“We tried to get Rupert Murdoch’s wife. We couldn’t get her so we took yours instead. You have a million by Wednesday night or we will kill her.”

While watching media magnate Rupert Murdoch and his wife Anna on television one night with his 21-year-old brother Nizamodeen, Arthur thought of an easy way to make enough money to pay for the lifestyle he desired. Later they followed Murdoch’s Rolls Royce to a house in Wimbledon thinking they knew where the Murdochs lived, but they were holidaying in Australia.

At 7.45 pm on Sunday 29th December Murdoch’s deputy chairman, Alick McKay was dropped off at his Wimbledon mansion to find the front door open, the lights on and his wife Muriel gone. The phone was pulled out of the wall and the contents of his wife's handbag were strewn over the stairs and a rusty meat cleaver lay on the floor. The fire was still burning.