London - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi apologised for the first time for the killing of a British policewoman shot from the Libyan embassy in London in 1984, in an interview out on Monday.

However, he also said that the killer had not been identified, in an interview with Britain's Sky News television.

Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was shot in the back while policing a peaceful demonstration outside the embassy on April 17, 1984.

Her case has been brought back into the spotlight following the August release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan man convicted over the Lockerbie plane bombing over Scotland.

The British government strongly denies accusations that it did deals with Tripoli over Megrahi to improve trade relations with Libya.

Gaddafi was asked if he had a message for Fletcher's family.

"You see, I know that such a thing happened. I know a policewoman was shot and killed when she was doing her duty," he said.

"She is not an enemy to us, and we are sorry all the time and our sympathy, because she was on duty, she was there to protect the Libyan embassy, but this is the problem that should be solved - but who did it?

"That is the question. It is always like a persistent matter."

London struck a deal with Tripoli three years ago ensuring that any suspects accused of killing Fletcher would be tried in Libya.

Gaddafi should end that "crass and outrageous agreement", said lawmaker Daniel Kawczyinski, who chairs the parliamentary scrutiny body on Libya.

He said Gaddafi should allow British detectives to return to Libya to complete their investigations.

"It's no good saying sorry and then offering nothing in return," The Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted him as saying.

"Gaddafi is still impeding justice."

Fletcher's killer has never been identified. The case remains open, but London police have complained that the investigation stalled when Libya suspended co-operation.

A secret review of Fletcher's death concluded two years ago that there was enough evidence to charge two Libyans, The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month.

A senior lawyer who carried out the review said Matouk Mohammed Matouk and Abdulgader Mohammed Baghdadi could be charged with conspiracy to cause death, the broadsheet said.

"It angers me that these two men have been rewarded with good jobs in the Libyan government when they should be standing trial," Queenie Fletcher, Yvonne's mother, told the daily.

By SAPA