The Wimbledon Kidnapping

Britain's first kidnap and ransom case galvanized the nation in 1969. On 29th December, Muriel McKay disappeared from her suburban home in Wimbledon. The case was so strange that everyone, the police, Muriel's family, Fleet Street, and hundreds of clairvoyants, all struggled to decipher the vanishing of the respectable 55-year-old housewife. Now, one of the men convicted for this extraordinary crime and the families of both the kidnapped woman and the convicted murderers speak for the first time. 'Wimbledon Kidnapping' reveals the jaw-dropping story behind a case that would rewrite the police rulebook, as kidnapping was an unheard-of crime in the UK. Mrs. McKay had been mistaken for Rupert Murdoch’s wife and was being held for a huge ransom by the mafia – so the headlines claimed. But the following negotiation, investigation, and trial of two Indo-Trinidadian brothers presented a very different version of events. Fifty years on, the search for the truth continues. Rich in the evocative historical archive, this is a tantalizing mystery riddled with racial tensions, police bungling, and the Wild West of Fleet Street. The story is told through haunting ransom calls made to the McKay family, fresh analysis of original evidence by forensic experts, and the first-hand testimony of family members, police, lawyers, journalists, and witnesses – many speaking for the first time. This feature-length documentary is from the multi-award-winning team at Caravan, who produced Netflix’s 'Killer Ratings.'