Black Widow wins £65k over ‘murder’
A UKRAINIAN model dubbed the ‘Black Widow’ after she was accused of arranging the murder of her British millionaire husband has won £65,000 from the coroner’s office and the dead man’s family.
Ganna Ziuzina – now known as Julianne Moore – was accused at an inquest in 2017 of being behind the hit-and-run killing of businessman Barry Pring, 47, on the outskirts of Kiev in 2008.
A verdict of unlawful killing was later quashed when coroner Elizabeth Earland admitted allowing ‘hearsay evidence’ and not giving Ms Ziuzina adequate opportunity to attend the hearing. A new inquest is scheduled for July 29.
Now Ms Ziuzina, who lives in Marbella, Spain, with her British partner Ivan Lister, has been awarded almost a third of her costs, estimated to be about £200,000.
A friend told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Ganna feels very strongly she has been the victim of a miscarriage of justice – the first inquest was grossly unfair but the coroner, Mrs Earland, was allowed to quietly retire afterwards. Ganna was accused of being a murderer without any evidence and there were huge stories in the papers about her, but when the inquest was quashed and Mrs Ear land retired, no one said anything. She f eels that these awards towards her legal costs are a first step in vindicating her.’
Ms Ziuzina met Mr Pring online early in 2006 and they married in Kiev, the Ukraine capital, in January 2007. They had been celebrating their first anniversary at a restaurant outside t he city when the businessman met his death. The couple were trying to hail a taxi by the roadside when Ms Ziuzina returned to the restaurant to find a missing glove. It was at that moment t hat Mr Pring was struck by a vehicle t hat has never been traced. Mr Pring’s family accused Ms Ziuzina of i nvolvement i n his death at the subsequent inquest before the Exeter coroner. The unlawful killing verdict caused a sensation but the model took immediate legal action. When the verdict was quashed at the High Court eight weeks l ater, Ms Ziuzina claimed costs and received £40,000 from the coroner’s office.
In the latest ruling two weeks ago, Shaughan Pring, the businessman’s brother, and mother Irene Pring, as executors of his estate, were ordered to pay £25,000 to Ms Ziuzina. She refused to comment.