[Iran Press TV Latest] Britain's Foreign Office has 'secretly' bowed down to Libyan pressure, sparing the life of a Libyan who had shot dead a British policewoman 25 years ago. The policewoman, Yvonne Fletcher, was monitoring a demonstration by Libyan protesters, when an assailant opened fire on the crowd targeting eleven people.
Fletcher was among those injured in London's St. James' Square, and died an hour after she was shot.
A "secret deal" was signed in 2006 to ease the negotiation of lucrative trade deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds with Libya, The Times Online daily reported on Sunday.
The deal, which ensures that the attacker will not be prosecuted on British soil, was signed between the Libyan government and Britain's former ambassador to Libya Anthony Layden.
The agreement was arranged with the approval of then foreign office secretary Jack Straw, who is now the UK Justice Secretary.
The British Foreign Office claimed that "the Fletcher family know all this and have not considered it to be a big issue."
This is while Fletcher's mother, Queenie, said she was shocked about the claim saying, "We were never told they'd agreed to this. No, never."
Yvonne's sister Heather said that the family was only informed that should any trial take place, it will be held in Libya.
The scandal is expected to infuriate critics, who have been opposing to the UK government's decision to release the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was put on a private plane to Tripoli in August.