French serial killer 'confesses' to murder of British woman 28 years ago
Joanna Parrish's family lawyer says convicted serial killer Michel Fourniret has confessed to killing the British woman in 1990.
Saturday 17 February 2018 05:20, UK
A convicted serial killer has confessed to murdering a British woman in France almost three decades ago, according to a lawyer for the victim's family.
Joanna Parrish, 20, had been working as a language assistant at a secondary school in Auxerre before she was found dead in a river on 17 May 1990, soon after going missing.
A post-mortem examination found she had been raped and beaten.
On Friday, her family's lawyer Didier Seban said Michel Fourniret, who was jailed for life in 2008 for killing seven girls, was interviewed by magistrates in Paris and admitted murdering Ms Parrish along with French teenager Marie-Angele Domece.
Ms Domece disappeared in 1988 and her body has never been found.
Mr Seban said: "He made detailed and repeated confessions. He clearly recognises, and this several times over, having killed Joanna Parrish and Marie-Angele Domece.
"It's a new development, a resolution of the affair, it seems, in a remarkable way... it's hard (for the family) but the end of a long legal battle."
He said he hoped Fourniret, who was dubbed the Ogre of the Ardennes over his previous killings, would now stand trial for Parrish's murder.
Prosecutors in Paris would not comment on the apparent confession with an investigation now under way.
A lawyer for Fourniret would not respond to a news agency request for comment.
The serial killer had initially been charged with kidnapping and murdering Ms Parrish and Ms Domece in 2008 but the court of appeal dismissed the case in 2011.
His wife Monique Olivier had twice accused him of being responsible for the killings but later retracted her claims.
Mr Seban said she would have to be questioned again.
Fourniret had always denied murdering Ms Parrish and Ms Domece, including during his 2008 trial at which he was found guilty of murdering the seven girls.
Olivier was found guilty of being complicit in five murders and jailed for life. She has been ordered to serve at least 28 years in jail.
In 2012, the court of appeal cancelled a dismissal order on Fourniret and asked for the investigation to resume in light of new leads in the case.