Age: 45
Sex: male
Date: 23 Aug 1984
Place: Bickenhall Mansions, Bickenhall Street, Marylebone, London
Ali El-Giahour was shot in the head at a flat at Bickenhall Mansions in Bickenhall Street, Marylebone.
At the time he had been due to stand trial at the Old Bailey with another man on bomb charges following two explosions in London. He had lived in a flat in Maida Vale.
Following his murder Libya formally protested to Britain over it, saying that it held the British authorities responsible for the killing.
The foriegn Office didn't reply immediately, but an offical spokesman repeated its call for Libya to restrain its nationals from criminal activity in the United Kingdom.
The spokesman added:
Ali El-Giahour had been on bail at the time, charged with plotting a bomb campaign against Arab targets. He had been charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. The police were reported at the time to believe that the bombs were the work of Colonel Gadaffi.
One of the bombings he was thought to have been involved with was that at a Mayfair club in Berkely Square where 23 people were injured on 10 March 1984.
It was thought that Ali El-Giahour had been one of Colonal Gadaffi's top killers and to have been responsible for training Libyan bombers operating in Europe agsitn enemies of the state.He was said to have known about all the Gadaffi bomb attacks and killings that had taken place in Britain since 1980 and MI5 intelligence chiefs were said to have thought he had been assassinated because it was feared that he might have lost his nerve and blown detainls of the terrorists operations.
The police said that they thought that he had been lured there by his assassin. They said that they had been looking for him after he failed to report to Paddington police station on Friday 17 August 1984 as laid down in his bail terms granted on 26 June 1984. He had been required to visit the police station twice a day. As part of his bail conditions he had been required to put down a surity of £20,000 and a similar cash deposit.
They were called to a one bed flat in Bickenhall Mansions by a neighbour who complained about a smell. The neighbour said that she noticed the smell after returning from a weekend away. She said:
I thought it would go away but it didn't, it got worse. I knew something was wrong in there but didn't know what.
She said that she then telephoned the head porter who contacted the agents for the flats who then called the police.
The police said that they were keeping an open mind as to the motive of the killing.
It was heard that an unkown man had rented the flat in Bickenhall Mansions for £350/week, paying a £100 deposit.
Ali El-Giahour's post mortem showed that he died from a gunshot wound.
The police later revealed that a taxi-driver could hold the clue as to the killer of Ali El-Giahour, stating that they beleived a cab or taxi took three Arabs, possibly including the killer, to Heathrow on the Friday. A flight bound for Libya which was due to leave Heathrow at 2.30pm was understood to have been delayed for about three hours. The police said that they thought that the driver had picked the three Arabs up near Baker Street, close to Bickenhall Mansions at about 4pm on the Friday and they appealed for the driver to come forward.
Two of the passengers were in their twenties and about 5ft 5in tall, but the police had no description of the third man.
Scotland Yard said that they were not commenting on the specualtion that he had been the victim of a Libyan death squad.
It was alter noted that security officers were investigating how his killers managed to slip into Britain, noting that after the murder of Yvonne Fletcher and the seige of the Libyan Embassy in London that all Libyan national s were being carefully vetted before they were allowed in.
Later in the year a number of Libyan's were deported for a range of offences, including a 28-year-old student at Aston Universiy who was beleived to have been a senior intelligence officer in Colonel Gadaffi's secret police. Another student at Birminham University was also deported. The 28-year-old student was also uestioned over the Libyan bombings, the seige and Ali El-Giahour.
Ali El-Giahour was described as a wealthy businessman, whose address at one time had been given as the Hilton Hotel in London's Park Lane.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Belfast News-Letter - Thursday 23 August 1984
see The Scotsman - Wednesday 22 August 1984
see Belfast News-Letter - Thursday 23 August 1984
see Wolverhampton Express and Star - Tuesday 21 August 1984
see The Scotsman - Monday 15 October 1984
see Daily Mirror - Wednesday 22 August 1984
see The Scotsman - Wednesday 27 June 1984
