Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was shot dead the day after British spies intercepted a Libyan order to 'cover the streets of London in blood', it was alleged today . Spies at GCHQ intercepted a message from Colonel Gaddafi to 'cover the streets of London with blood' the night before WPc Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead but failed to pass it on in time, it was alleged today. Mike Arnold, 56, who worked as a technology officer at the British intelligence agency at the time, said he was speaking out now because Miss Fletcher's relatives deserved to know 'the truth'. The 25-year-old policewoman was fatally shot as she covered an anti-Gaddafi protest outside the Libyan embassy in central London on 17 April 1984. Mr Arnold alleges that a communications worker at GCHQ in Cheltenham walked into his officer the day Miss Fletcher died holding two telex messages, which he said had been missed by night staff the evening before. One message detailed three possible ways of handling the expected protest against the Libyan leader the next day. Mr Arnold told The Times the message contained details of a conversation between the London embassy, known as the People's Bureau, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tripoli. He said: '[The supervisor] stood in front of me holding the telex paper in his hand and he read the three options to me.... 'The options were to clash directly with the demonstrators from outside the bureau, to fire on them from inside the bureau, or to prevent the demonstration by diplomatic pressure.' He said the supervisor then read the reply from the Libyan Foreign Ministry which gave the order to follow the second option and 'cover the streets of London with blood'. Mr Arnold, who says he voiced his . concerns in private to politicians over the past decade, said the . telexes had already been de-encrypted and translated before they . arrived, suggesting they had been passed on by the US National Security . Agency. He said GCHQ night . staff often slept in the office when they were meant to be working, and . would wake up just before the end of their shift and leave a pile of . telexes that had come in overnight for the day staff to sort through. Police hats left where they fell after PC Yvonne Fletcher was fatally shot outside the Libyan embassy in London . Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - the British policewoman was shot at a protest against him . Flowers laid at PC Fletcher's grave in St James' Square, central London, where she was shot in April 1984 . While the existence of the two messages is acknowledged, it was previously understood that security staff did not know about them until after the demonstration, by which time the policewoman had been shot. As a result of GCHQ's failure an . internal investigation was launched, resulting in changes to the way . British spies handled terror intelligence. Previously, it is said that British spies concentrated 24-hour watches on the threat from Moscow, but after the Libyan murder, intelligence staff turned their attention onto the terror threat, too. Today . a colleague and friend of Miss Fletcher, who knelt beside her as she . died, said that if the message had been passed on, the demonstration . would not have been allowed to happen. The former Libyan embassy in St James' Square, London, where Miss Fletcher was shot by machine-gun fire . The British ambassador to Libya in 1984, Oliver Miles, received a midnight warning before Miss Fletcher was shot . John Murray, 58, said he was planning legal action against the Government over the 'disgraceful' allegations. Last week it was revealed that Libyan officials twice warned Britain of impending violence hours before Miss Fletcher was shot, but the veiled threats were regarded as 'standard Libyan line'. One of the warnings was made by two Libyan officials who took the ‘unusual’ step of going in person at midnight to the Foreign Office in London, secret Government files released this month said. The other, also delivered around midnight, was to the British Ambassador to Libya, Oliver Miles – who was so unimpressed he ‘made a bet’ that ‘no such demonstration will take place’. The protest was allowed to go ahead by Special Branch – despite intelligence reports that weapons and ‘assassins’ were being assembled at the embassy. Miss Fletcher's mother said today that no revelation would change what happened. Speaking from her home near Shaftesbury, Wiltshire, Queenie Fletcher, 80, said: 'When something is resolved, every year something else happens or is said. 'People keep asking us the same questions - what do we think about this or that - but it will never go away, whatever happens. 'For us, it does not matter - it will never go away.' A spokesman for GCHQ declined to comment this morning.
British GCHQ spies 'intercepted order to "cover London streets in blood"'
Former agency worker says staff there failed to pass on the grim warning .
Message received night before Miss Fletcher shot dead in London demo .
The 25-year-old PC was covering anti-Gaddafi protest at Libyan embassy .
Previously it was thought the message came in after the fatal shooting .
Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was shot dead the day after British spies intercepted a Libyan order to 'cover the streets of London in blood', it was alleged today . Spies at GCHQ intercepted a message from Colonel Gaddafi to 'cover the streets of London with blood' the night before WPc Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead but failed to pass it on in time, it was alleged today. Mike Arnold, 56, who worked as a technology officer at the British intelligence agency at the time, said he was speaking out now because Miss Fletcher's relatives deserved to know 'the truth'. The 25-year-old policewoman was fatally shot as she covered an anti-Gaddafi protest outside the Libyan embassy in central London on 17 April 1984. Mr Arnold alleges that a communications worker at GCHQ in Cheltenham walked into his officer the day Miss Fletcher died holding two telex messages, which he said had been missed by night staff the evening before. One message detailed three possible ways of handling the expected protest against the Libyan leader the next day. Mr Arnold told The Times the message contained details of a conversation between the London embassy, known as the People's Bureau, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tripoli. He said: '[The supervisor] stood in front of me holding the telex paper in his hand and he read the three options to me.... 'The options were to clash directly with the demonstrators from outside the bureau, to fire on them from inside the bureau, or to prevent the demonstration by diplomatic pressure.' He said the supervisor then read the reply from the Libyan Foreign Ministry which gave the order to follow the second option and 'cover the streets of London with blood'. Mr Arnold, who says he voiced his . concerns in private to politicians over the past decade, said the . telexes had already been de-encrypted and translated before they . arrived, suggesting they had been passed on by the US National Security . Agency. He said GCHQ night . staff often slept in the office when they were meant to be working, and . would wake up just before the end of their shift and leave a pile of . telexes that had come in overnight for the day staff to sort through. Police hats left where they fell after PC Yvonne Fletcher was fatally shot outside the Libyan embassy in London . Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - the British policewoman was shot at a protest against him . Flowers laid at PC Fletcher's grave in St James' Square, central London, where she was shot in April 1984 . While the existence of the two messages is acknowledged, it was previously understood that security staff did not know about them until after the demonstration, by which time the policewoman had been shot. As a result of GCHQ's failure an . internal investigation was launched, resulting in changes to the way . British spies handled terror intelligence. Previously, it is said that British spies concentrated 24-hour watches on the threat from Moscow, but after the Libyan murder, intelligence staff turned their attention onto the terror threat, too. Today . a colleague and friend of Miss Fletcher, who knelt beside her as she . died, said that if the message had been passed on, the demonstration . would not have been allowed to happen. The former Libyan embassy in St James' Square, London, where Miss Fletcher was shot by machine-gun fire . The British ambassador to Libya in 1984, Oliver Miles, received a midnight warning before Miss Fletcher was shot . John Murray, 58, said he was planning legal action against the Government over the 'disgraceful' allegations. Last week it was revealed that Libyan officials twice warned Britain of impending violence hours before Miss Fletcher was shot, but the veiled threats were regarded as 'standard Libyan line'. One of the warnings was made by two Libyan officials who took the ‘unusual’ step of going in person at midnight to the Foreign Office in London, secret Government files released this month said. The other, also delivered around midnight, was to the British Ambassador to Libya, Oliver Miles – who was so unimpressed he ‘made a bet’ that ‘no such demonstration will take place’. The protest was allowed to go ahead by Special Branch – despite intelligence reports that weapons and ‘assassins’ were being assembled at the embassy. Miss Fletcher's mother said today that no revelation would change what happened. Speaking from her home near Shaftesbury, Wiltshire, Queenie Fletcher, 80, said: 'When something is resolved, every year something else happens or is said. 'People keep asking us the same questions - what do we think about this or that - but it will never go away, whatever happens. 'For us, it does not matter - it will never go away.' A spokesman for GCHQ declined to comment this morning.
British spies intercepted a Libyan order to 'cover the streets of London in blood', it was message from Colonel Gaddafi to 'cover the streets of London with blood' the night before WPc Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead but failed to covered an anti-Gaddafi protest outside the Libyan embassy in central London on 17 April worker at GCHQ in Cheltenham walked into his from Moscow, but after the Libyan murder, received a midnight warning before Miss Fletcher