Besotted Briton who wed gold-digger Ukrainian WAS unlawfully killed in hit-run
Bride vanished after car mowed him down at 75mph, inquest told
A WEALTHY British businessman was murdered for his money by his ‘cold’ Ukrainian internet bride, an inquest heard yesterday.
Barry Pring, 47, is said to have been besotted with Ganna Ziuzina – despite his friends’ fears that she was a ‘gold-digger’.
Following their first wedding anniversary dinner in Kiev in February 2008, he suffered fatal injuries as he was hit by a car at 75mph.
Yesterday a coroner ruled Mr Pring was unlawfully killed after being ‘tricked’ to wait in a road for a taxi. The inquest heard that within days ex-stripper Miss Ziuzina – also known as Anna and GZ – flew to the UK and tried to move into his London flat and claim his assets.
The verdict was greeted with relief for the businessman’s family, who spent more than £100,000 trying to find out what happened.
Lifelong friend Peter Clifford told the inquest in Exeter: ‘There is no reasonable doubt in my mind that Barry was murdered, nor is there any reasonable doubt in my mind that Ganna Ziuzina either arranged for, or was complicit in, his murder.’
Grammar school-educated Mr Pring married Miss Ziuzina, 18 years his junior, in 2007 after a brief relationship – but his family and friends said they believed she was only interested in his wealth.
Mr Clifford, who was joint best man at the couple’s Kiev wedding, said the businessman was ‘totally under her influence’. He said he was concerned about an ‘extreme inequality of power in their relationship’. He added that
‘Totally under her influence’ Pregnant and with a new wealthy lover, internet bride of millionaire murdered in the Ukraine
prior to his death, Mr Pring had expressed fears that Miss Ziuzina was a ‘gold-digger’.
Out for dinner with the couple one night, lawyer Mr Clifford said Miss Ziuzina had told him: ‘Local police are corrupt and if one pays them, one can get away with anything.’
He also said that during the wedding, a friend of the bride said she would ‘get what she wants’. The dead man’s mother, Irene Pring, said in a statement read out at the hearing: ‘It has cost us a lot of money to find out what happened that night, in excess of £100,000.
‘We are sure that Anna (Ganna) had some involvement in Barry’s death, in order to inherit his money and property.’ Mrs Pring was in tears as horrific details of her son’s injuries were read out.
Miss Ziuzina, who has now formed a relationship with another wealthy British man and has had a child with him, was not at the hearing.
The 38-year-old is believed to be living abroad, possibly Spain, and could not be reached for comment last night. The inquest heard that ‘strenuous attempts’ had been made to try to get Miss Ziuzina to attend. A statement given by the widow, now known as Juliana Moore, said she did not believe she could ‘add anything further’. The coroner heard Miss Ziuzina led her husband to the edge of a dual carriageway after their anniversary dinner to hail a taxi. She then went back inside the restaurant to collect a pair of gloves.
Moments later Mr Pring was killed instantly by a speeding vehicle with no headlights on and stolen number plates.
Investigations revealed that Miss Ziuzina had been on her mobile phone in the run up the killing, and had insisted she and her husband sit in the middle of the restaurant, where they drank a litre of vodka, in clear view of people outside.
Yesterday’s inquest came six years after a major Daily Mail investigation exposed questions about the death, the shambolic police inquiry by police in Ukraine and Miss Ziuzina’s legal aid-funded bid to seize a slice of her husband’s £1.5million estate.
The revelations prompted the investigation to be upgraded from a traffic accident to murder.
Mr Pring’s brother, Shaughan, told the inquest he believed Miss Ziuzina was ‘only interested in Barry for his money and saw their relationship as an opportunity to better her position financially’.
He added that his brother was ‘besotted’ by the woman, who he knew as Anna, but that she ‘became very demanding’.
The inquest heard that Mr Pring, from Devon, set up his own consultancy business aged 30 in London and travelled extensively. He was said to have told his mother Miss Ziuzina was a teacher.
She did not find out until later that they had met on a dating website – or that Miss Ziuzina was working as a lap dancer or stripper. In early January 2007 he told his parents to expect an announcement and then telephoned to say he would be marrying four days later. ‘No one from our family was invited,’ said Mrs Pring.
Referring to her first meeting with Miss Ziuzina in Devon in 2007, she said: ‘I was quite surprised to see how cold she was with Barry. She was not loving and caring towards him at all... there did not seem to be a spark between Anna and Barry, it seemed very one-sided.
‘Barry likes a cup of tea, she wouldn’t even make him a cup of tea. She did not lift a finger to do anything in those two days, she was a lazy thing.’
After his death, Miss Ziuzina travelled to London, sold her husband’s Range Rover and the contents of his flat, and removed money from his British bank account.
The inquest also heard that Miss Ziuzina was in a relationship with another man in Kiev during her marriage to Mr Pring.
Coroner Dr Elizabeth Earland said she had come to the ‘overwhelming’ conclusion that Mr Pring had been unlawfully killed after being ‘tricked’ into standing on the wrong side of the carriageway to hail a taxi.
She said: ‘His guard was lowered by inebriation... I am satisfied that having heard all the evidence... Barry John Pring has been unlawfully killed.’
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Pring’s brother Shaughan – who also praised the Mail’s role in exposing the case – said the family’s fight for justice would go on.
He said: ‘It is the verdict we expected. However it is still not going to get us justice for Barry.’
He added that the dispute over Mr Pring’s estate has not been resolved, noting that Miss Ziuzina is still a free person and that the family will take advice from their solicitors on the next step. Do you know Ganna Ziuzina? Email news@dailymail.co.uk’