The daughter of stolen racehorse Shergar's owner has spoken out for the first time about the Derby-winning legend's kidnapping in 1983.Princess Zahra Aga Khan, daughter of the Aga Khan, revealed the colt was killed 'in an awful way' and a ransom was never paid to stop the money getting into the wrong hands.It is 45 years since the big bay with a white blaze won the Derby at Epsom by 10 lengths, a margin which to this day stands as a record for a race first run in 1780.On the night of February 8, 1983, intruders broke into the Aga Khan's Ballymany Stud in County Kildare and kidnapped the horse.At the time, the IRA were the main suspects behind the kidnapping, which involved six armed men.It has been generally accepted that his abductors were ill-equipped to control a thoroughbred stallion and he was killed shortly afterwards. Shergar's remains have never been found.Princess Zahra Aga Khan has now described how a ransom of £2million that was demanded for Shergar's safe return was not paid out of fear the money would be 'used against human beings' and revealed the horse had not been insured against kidnap. Walter Swinburn is pictured riding Shergar to victory at the St Leger Stakes in Doncaster The Aga Khan is seen with his daughter Princess Zahra in September 2003 in Chantilly, FranceShe told Telegraph Sport: 'We now know the horse was killed within two days (of being taken). They did so in an awful way.'She explained that her late father, the the 49th imam and spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, had not been able to pay the ransom alone because Shergar was owned by a syndicate and they all needed to agree.Princess Zahra, who was 12 at the time, said: 'Dad was so upset, there was great disbelief.'People didn't understand the horse was syndicated and the ransom demand was only for 10 per cent of his stud value.'I remember Dad saying over and over, not only was the horse not insured against kidnapping – because who the hell was going to think of kidnapping a horse? – but because the horse was syndicated he couldn't get everyone to agree on what to do.'He also argued that even if he could pay the ransom, he couldn't do so if (the money) was going to be used against human beings.'She also revealed that Shergar was killed two days after being taken, earlier than previously thought.She added: 'It was very unprofessionally done, and when they finally killed him they did so in an awful way. Shergar is pictured grazing in a field – the Derby-winning horse was kidnapped in 1983 The Daily Mail reports on the disappearance of Shergar in 1983'The horse didn't deserve that. Even as a stallion he was the kindest horse in the world, he was so unfairly treated.'And why? He was a national symbol of Irish breeding and racing.'It's a long time ago, it was a very different world and people had different motivations back then.'Shergar was kidnapped along with his groom John Fitzgerald in February 1983 from his stud farm in Ballymany, County Kildare, by a group of masked men.While Fitzgerald was soon released, the thieves – who investigators believe were members of the IRA – demanded £2million for Shergar's return.The Aga Khan believed that if a ransom was paid, it would place all his horses at risk and refused to hand over the money.After a series of phone calls, the kidnappers broke off contact and the horse was never seen again.Jockey Walter Swinburn had ridden Shergar to Epsom Derby glory in 1981.Swinburn died aged 55 after falling from his bathroom window in Belgravia, central London, in December 2016, in what a coroner later ruled an accidental death. The Aga Khan died in February last year, aged 88. His charity, the Aga Khan Foundation, said he died peacefully in Portugal's capital Lisbon.