Joanna Parrish’s father says her killer’s wife ‘equally responsible’ for murder
Roger Parrish spoke after Monique Olivier was found guilty of being complicit in Joanna Parrish’s murder, as well as two others.
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The father of Joanna Parrish, who was murdered in France 33 years ago, said he is “satisfied” that Monique Olivier’s role in aiding her serial killer former husband has been recognised after she was sentenced to life in prison.
Ms Parrish was killed in the French city of Auxerre by Olivier’s ex-husband Michel Fourniret who was dubbed the “Ogre of the Ardennes”.
Roger Parrish spoke during a press conference in Nanterre on Tuesday, after Olivier was reported to have been found guilty of being complicit in his daughter’s murder, as well as those of Marie-Angele Domece in 1988 and Estelle Mouzin in 2003.
Ms Parrish, 20, from Gloucester, was murdered in 1990, while working as an English teacher during her gap year.
There’s never been any doubt in our minds at all that she was equally responsible for the murder of Joanna and the other completely innocent victims
Her body was found in the River Yonne and a post-mortem examination showed that she had been raped, beaten and strangled.
Olivier, 75, admitted in court that what she had done had been “monstrous”, but said she had been intimidated by Fourniret and scared of defying him, Sky News reported.
The prosecution had argued that she had been a willing participant and had repeatedly passed over chances to help victims to escape.
Mr Parrish said “there has never been any doubt in our minds at all” that Olivier was “equally responsible for the murder of Joanna and the other completely innocent victims”.
Mr Parrish asked for a moment to remember all the victims, then said: “We’re satisfied that the court has recognised Monique Olivier’s part in the murder of our daughter and sister. She has been found guilty on all counts and a verdict and sentence passed accordingly.
Her presence alone would have gained the confidence of all the victims, who would never have believed a woman could be a part of such an appalling and depraved act.
“There’s never been any doubt in our minds at all that she was equally responsible for the murder of Joanna and the other completely innocent victims.
“From the very first moment that a victim was identified, she knew exactly, exactly, what would happen to them. And not only did she do nothing to help them, but she actively encouraged and participated in both their capture and subsequent murder.
“Her presence alone would have gained the confidence of all the victims, who would never have believed a woman could be a part of such an appalling and depraved act. And her participation in these acts has now been proved beyond any doubt.
“Finally, we now hope after this last obstacle in our struggle to gain an element of justice for Joanna has been overcome, we can remember our daughter and sister with a smile on our faces which is how of course all her many friends remember her.”
Arrested in 2003 in Belgium, Fourniret was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 for the murder and the rape or attempted rape of seven female teenagers and young women in France and Belgium between 1987 and 2001.
Fourniret’s then-wife, Olivier, received a life sentence as an accomplice in several of the cases.
Ten years later, he was sentenced again to life imprisonment for the murder of the companion of a former cellmate, who had disappeared in 1988.
The same year, he confessed to two other murders, including that of Ms Parrish.
In 2019, Fourniret was charged in the case of Estelle Mouzin, a nine-year-old girl who disappeared in 2003 as she was coming back from school in Guermantes, a small town east of Paris.
In March 2020, Paris prosecutor said Fourniret confessed to murdering Estelle.
Olivier, who divorced Fourniret in 2010, accused him of several other murders of which he was suspected of being involved.
Fourniret died in 2021 aged 79.