Toronto Lawyer Hopes to Crack Cold Case in Libya

The Globe and Mail ^ | Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 | Nathan Vanderklippe

[nickcarraway]

On April 17, 1984, Yvonne Fletcher, a 25-year-old British police constable, died of a single bullet to the abdomen while standing guard outside the Libyan embassy in London.

The shot came from within the embassy. But her killer remained hidden, first inside the embassy during an 11-day armed siege by police and snipers and then, for the many years that followed, in Libya, where the embassy’s staff were spirited after claiming diplomatic immunity.

Ms. Fletcher’s death would come to stand with the Lockerbie bombing as one of the signal events in turning the west against the regime of Colonel Moammar Gadhafi. It has also, for many years, remained what is arguably Britain’s most important unsolved mystery – one that has led to no charges, no arrests, and a simmering anger that the decades have done little to diminish.

But as the regime that shielded Ms. Fletcher’s shooter disintegrates, a Toronto lawyer who quietly helped British police re-examine the case says there is new hope that those responsible will be found and held to account.

“The hope is that there will be increased co-operation, that witnesses won’t be afraid to speak and that new evidence can be gathered and then assessed,” said Graeme Cameron, a former Ontario Crown prosecutor who, in 2005 and 2006, was secretly asked to pore through the vast reams of evidence and witness statements related to Ms. Fletcher’s death. He produced a report on his findings in 2007.

If that happens, “there may be, like the Lockerbie case, the possibility of a trial in another jurisdiction or there may be, under a new regime, the possibility of a trial within Libya,” he said.

[bajabaja]

Well the Brits should have swapped some oil contracts with Libya and found out.

[Cicero]

Not very likely. According to stories yesterday, the “rebels” have already refused requests to turn over the Lockerbie bomber.