Arthur Hosein was born in Trinidad and Tobago and later moved to the United Kingdom, where he pursued a career as a tailor in Hackney, London. Arthur came from an Indo-Trinidadian family and was the older brother of Nizamodeen Hosein, with whom he shared a close but ultimately destructive bond. In 1968, Arthur made a significant life change by purchasing Rooks Farm, a rundown eleven-acre property in Stocking Pelham, Hertfordshire. The purchase proved to be a financial strain, and soon he found himself in deep financial trouble.

Arthur lived at Rooks Farm with his German-born wife and his younger brother, Nizamodeen. Despite being new to rural life, the brothers appeared determined to make the most out of their struggling property. However, behind the scenes, Arthur was spiraling financially. Desperate for money and likely driven by the dream of quick wealth, he began plotting a criminal scheme that would go far beyond simple fraud or theft.

His plan involved kidnapping a high-profile individual and demanding ransom—a dangerous idea that was inspired after seeing media mogul Rupert Murdoch on television discussing his recent newspaper acquisitions. The Hoseins mistakenly identified the residence of Alick and Muriel McKay as Murdoch’s own home, a fatal error that set their crime in motion.

On the evening of 29 December 1969, Arthur and his brother Nizamodeen Hosein broke into the Wimbledon home of Muriel McKay, believing she was Rupert Murdoch’s wife. In reality, Murdoch had loaned his Rolls-Royce to his deputy, Alick McKay, leading the brothers to mistakenly target Muriel. The intruders abducted Muriel while Alick was at work, and upon his return, Alick found signs of a struggle—his wife's handbag dumped on the stairs, the phone ripped from the wall, and Muriel missing.

The following day, a call came from someone identifying as “M3,” demanding £1 million in ransom. Over the next 40 days, the McKay family received 18 phone calls and multiple letters postmarked from North London. Five letters allegedly written by Muriel herself were included, along with pieces of her clothing—evidence meant to show she was still alive. Two separate ransom drop attempts were arranged by police with heavy surveillance. On 6 February 1970, during the second attempt, officers followed a complex trail of instructions leading to Bishop’s Stortford, where they left two suitcases containing ransom money near a minivan, under surveillance.

A suspicious blue Volvo sedan with a broken taillight, registration XGO 994G, was observed near the drop site multiple times. This vehicle, eventually traced back to Rooks Farm, became a central clue. Police raided the farm the next morning and arrested both Arthur and Nizamodeen. At the scene, investigators found damning physical evidence: a notebook with pages matching Muriel’s ransom letters, tape and twine consistent with the kidnapping materials, and fingerprints linking Arthur to the crime.

Despite intensive searches, no trace of Muriel’s body was ever found. In court, the brothers turned on each other, each blaming the other for the crime. However, testimony and forensic evidence made it clear that Arthur was the mastermind. The prosecution, led by Peter Rawlinson, argued that Arthur had orchestrated the entire operation in desperation due to mounting financial problems. The jury convicted both men on 6 October 1970 of kidnapping, blackmail, and murder—despite Muriel’s body never being recovered. Arthur received a life sentence plus 25 years. The judge described their crime as “cold-blooded and abominable.”

Arthur Hosein remained in prison for nearly four decades. His applications for parole in 1987 and 1994 were denied. He died in custody in 2009. His brother, Nizamodeen, was released after serving 20 years and deported to Trinidad, where he later claimed Muriel had died of a heart attack shortly after the kidnapping. As of 2024, the McKay family continues to push for the recovery of Muriel's remains, with searches at the now-renamed Stocking Farm still yielding no results.