EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: The 40th anniversary of the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher ... trends now
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Today's 40th anniversary of the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside London's Libyan embassy revives unhappy memories at Scotland Yard.
Police kidnapped the media, holding them for four hours in the Travellers Club, while the murderers and other 'diplomats' were secretly smuggled from the embassy.
Reporters and cameramen were summoned from the scene to a police briefing, kept incommunicado and not permitted to leave.
BBC reporter Michael Cole, finding the outside broadcast units unmanned at the embassy on the 11th day of the siege, alerted his news desk to send reinforcements.
'By the skin of their teeth, the OB started just as the first of the alleged diplomats emerged, single file with their hands above their heads,' recalls Mr Cole. 'Not for the first time, the Met used the media but did not hesitate to frustrate legitimate journalism with cavalier disregard for the public's interest. There was never a word of apology.'
Pictured: Police officer Yvonne Fletcher who was murdered in 1984
Police kidnapped the media, holding them for four hours in the Travellers Club, while the murderers and other 'diplomats' were secretly smuggled from the embassy. Pictured: The Libyan embassy in London
