Parents of dead British girl attend French ‘serial killer’ trial

17 April 2008
   
CHARLEVILLE-MEZIERES – The parents of a murdered British girl attended Wednesday the trial in France of self-confessed serial killer Michel Fourniret, who they believe killed their daughter.

The 1990 murder of Joanna Parrish is not among the accusations dealt with in the trial, although investigators are separately probing whether Fourniret killed her and a young Frenchwoman murdered in 1988.

Roger Parrish, 75, said he had come to the court in the northeastern town of Charleville-Mezieres because there are "similar circumstances" in the death of his daughter and the murders of two girls among the seven Fourniret stands charged with.

"We’ve met some of the other French families" of Fourniret’s alleged victims, said Parrish before he went into the courtroom with Pauline Sewell, Joanna’s mother.

"That was quite emotional because we had never met them before… We know that they share similar feeling to us," he told reporters.

Fourniret’s wife Monique Olivier is also on trial here for one murder and complicity in the crimes her husband committed during a 15-year killing spree.

"We hope that after this trial, Michel Fourniret and Monique Olivier will be questioned in detail about our case, about Joanna’s case," said Roger Parrish.

"The only time we have seen them (the accused) has been through the newspapers or on television," he said. "It is important for us (to attend the trial) because we may gain a sort of impression. But we have been warned in advance what to expect."

Olivier has previously accused her husband of killing Parrish, but Fourniret, who has confessed to several murders, has denied the charge.

Parrish, who was working as a teaching assistant in the central French city of Auxerre, was found dead near the city in May 1990. She was 20 years old.

Her parents plan to attend the trial here, which began in late March and is set to last for two months, for just two days.

[AFP / Expatica]