Only one of the Libyans suspected of involvement in the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher is believed still to be alive, it has been reported.
The claim came after it was announced by rebel officials in Tripoli that one suspect, Abdulqadir al-Baghdadi, had been shot in the head. He was an official in the Libyan embassy in London at the time of the 1984 murder.
The Daily Telegraph reported that a junior official, Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, who was suspected of firing the fatal shots, had never been traced since he was deported along with other embassy officials after an 11-day stand-off and is thought to have died.
That left Matouk Mohammed Matouk as the last named suspect believed to be still alive, it added. The newspaper quoted Ali Tarhouni, the de facto deputy prime minister of the new government, saying: "We know where he is."
Questions remain about whether any suspect involved in the murder could stand trial in the UK, as Libya has a law that prevents it from extraditing its own citizens to other countries.
The developments come as British police hope to travel to Libya to investigate the murder of PC Fletcher, who was shot while on duty outside the embassy in London.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said officers would assess whether the news of al-Baghdadi's death would affect their investigation. He told the BBC: "This is the subject of a Metropolitan Police investigation that is going on and will go on into the future so I don't want to prejudge immediately what has been announced.
"Of course we will want to know a good deal more about what the NTC (National Transitional Council) say has happened in this case and I'm sure the police will want to know and assess themselves whether it affects their investigation in any way."
A spokesman for the rebel council in Tripoli said al-Baghdadi's death was probably the result of an "inside vendetta" within the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who is still being hunted after the crumbling of his regime.
Meanwhile it was announced that almost £1 billion of Libyan currency held in the UK will be released to the country's central bank after the United Nations Sanctions Committee approved the measure. Some 1.86 billion Libyan Dinar (£950 million) of newly printed banknotes were held in the UK under sanctions imposed on the Gaddafi regime.
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