Dad of Brit Joanna Parrish murdered by Ogre of Ardennes says he’s been ‘robbed of justice’ as French serial killer dies
THE father of a Brit woman murdered by France's most notorious serial killer has been ''denied justice'' after her murderer died in hospital.
Michel Fourniret confessed to the 1990 killing of student Joanna Parrish three years ago and was due to have gone on trial later this year.
Nicknamed the ''Ogre of the Ardennes'' Fourniret, 79, is suspected to have sexually assaulted and murdered at least 30 other women in a 14 year reign of terror from 1987 and was already serving two life sentences.
Last night, Joanna's father Roger, 77, from Newnham on Severn, Gloucestershire, said: "We had been expecting this. We knew he was ill and he was in hospital in poor health so it's no surprise.
"We had prepared ourselves for it so we were ready but it has robbed us of seeing this man in court face to face and asking him why.
"That is something we shall regret, not being able to see him in a court of law, we have been denied that opportunity."
Stifling tears he added: "He's taken away the chance for us to ask him why he took away Joanna's life but he wouldn't have any remorse as he is a deviant psychopath.
"He thought himself above other people and more intelligent than anyone else, he had no emotion and now he has denied us justice in a court of law.
"It's been three years since he confessed and the French authorities have a lot of questions to answer as to why he hadn't gone on trial sooner."
Joanna was found dead in a river in Auxerre, France, in 1990, having been abducted, raped and strangled.
Convicted killer Fourniret appeared before a French judge and admitted to her murder in 2018 but had not yet appeared in court to face justice over her death.
He had had admitted kidnapping, raping and murdering 11 girls and young women but was supected of many more.
Fourniret's wife, Monique Olivier, also confessed to Joanna's killing but later retracted her statement but she is still expected to go on trial for her murder.
Retired land registry official Roger added: "We remain convinced of her involvement in Joanna's murder despite the retraction, so at least we can see her face justice when that trial starts.
"She admitted to working with him in gaining victim's confidence so he could murder them.
"What we are angry about is that it has taken so long from his confession to get to trial and now that won't even happen with him.
"The initial investigation wasn't handled properly at all with DNA going missing or getting contaminated - Fourniret has actually been in the frame since 2003."
Sources in France said Fourniret had been suffering from a heart condition and Alzheimer's and that doctors had placed him in an artificial coma just before he died.
He was rushed to a secure unit at the Pitié Salpêtrière in Paris on Saturday "suffering from respiratory problems".
A source told Le Parisien newspaper: "He is suffering with heart problems and mental degeneration, has been placed in a coma, and doctors consider he cannot be resuscitated."
Fourniret has admitted kidnapping, raping and murdering nine girls and young women although it is believed he killed at least another 21.
University of Leeds language student Joanna, 20, was on a foreign language student when she was murdered.
She was killed in Burgundy countryside in eastern France in May 1990.
In 2018, Fourniret told examining magistrates he ended the lives of both Joanna and Marie-Ange Domece, a mentally handicapped teenager who disappeared in 1988, aged 19.
Joanna’s body was found naked in the River Yonne in Auxerre, the day after she was reported missing.
Fourniret was the prime suspect in Joanna’s case for years and was finally arrested in 2005 with his wife Monique Olivier in connection with the death.
Olivier was also jailed for complicity after it was revealed she would pick up victims for him as she drove in their car around the wooden Ardennes area with their baby son in the back seat.
Last year, analysts found forensic traces of two other Fourniret victims - nine-year-old Estelle Mouzin and 18-year-old Céline Saison - on a mattress belonging to the murderer’s sister.
Then advanced DNA testing led to links with 12 other people.
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Corinne Herrmann, a barrister representing presumed victims, said at the time: "We want the DNA of all victims and disappeared girls that we represent to be compared with those found on the mattress, and with all evidence under seal seized at Michel Fourniret's home."
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Ms Herrmann added: "It is inconceivable that Fourniret did not kill other victims."
Fourniret was in the high-security Fresnes prison in Paris until being rushed to the Pitié Salpêtrière.