Trial ‘too late’ for family of UK student murdered in France

THE father of a British woman murdered by France’s most notorious modern-day serial killer in 1990 has refused to attend the trial of his accomplice,

Roger Parrish, 79, said the case, dragged out by the French justice system, has come “too late” as Michel Fourniret, who raped and murdered his daughter, Joanna, died in May 2021.

Fourniret was already serving a life sentence for a string of murders when in 2018 he confessed to killing Ms Parrish, a language student at Leeds University, whose body was found in the River Yonne in Auxerre.

His trial was scheduled for 2020 but was delayed because of the pandemic.

Fourniret’s ex-wife, Monique Olivier, who has already been found guilty of one murder and assisting three others, is due to stand trial in November.

As early as 2005, suspicion fell on Fourniret for Ms Parrish’s murder but police conducted an investigation blighted by a catalogue of errors.

Speaking to Le Parisien Mr Parrish, 79, said: “Fourniret will never be convicted for the death of our daughter and it’s the French justice’s fault.”