On 7 July 1999, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook announced in the British House of Commons, that the Libyan Government "had accepted general responsibility for Yvonne Fletcher's death, expressed its deep regrets to her mother, and paid compensation."
On 8 July 1999, the Libyan Ambassador-Designate to London denied Cook's claim, telling Sir Teddy Taylor MP that his government had made no such statement, and firmly denying Libyan involvement in Yvonne Fletcher's murder on 17 April 1984.
