Who killed Yvonne Fletcher?

Published: 1 April, 2011

• THE departure of Dr Paul Knapman as Westminster Coroner marks the end of a notable era in public affairs (A coroner with a quest for justice, Profile March 25). 

His memoirs would make very interesting reading.

The murder of Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan People’s Bureau stays in the public eye, especially now.  

In his book The Secret History of Assassination, the investigative writer Richard Belfield cites the evidence of the angle of the bullet that killed the officer and the opinion of a former army chief surgeon (not called to give evidence) that disputed the source of that bullet as the embassy. 

He also goes into detail about how the fatal shot was slightly separate from the burst of machine gun fire originating from the embassy and, just to add to the mix, the author reports “only one building” possessed the attributes to match the angle of that fatal shot and had an upper floor (with unseen access from the rear) taken over by the intelligence services.  

Unlike the Iranian embassy, there was no SAS assault on the Libyan embassy and eventually the occupants were allowed to leave for Libya. 

And even now, decades later, Muammar Gaddafi survives as he fights off yet another attempt to oust him from power. In this “smoke and mirrors” world, will we ever learn the full circumstances about the murder of that poor young officer?

M NEWBERRY
Harcourt Street, W1

On losing a coroner

• I HAVE always appreciated the combination of insight, good judgment and felicitous phrasing that typified Paul Knapman’s verdicts.  

As he seemed to have been there since I first noticed coroners’ reports, it had occurred to me more than once that, sooner or later, we should lose him, and that he would be a hard act to follow.

Thank you for the Profile of Dr Knapman. And thank you Dr Knapman for a career well spent.

JACQUELINE CASTLES
Westbourne Terrace, W2