Student knocked out by drug injection before murder

Joanna was found with injection marks in her arms in 1990

A student was knocked out with a drug from an injection when she was kidnapped and murdered over thirty years ago, a legal-medical expert says.

Joanna Parrish was 20 when she was kidnapped in Auxerre, France.

Monique Olivier, 75, who is already serving a life sentence, is on trial for her part in two murders, including Ms Parrish and a kidnap.

On Monday, the court heard evidence from Ms Parrish’s parents, Roger Parrish and Pauline Murrell.

Monique Olivier was not questioned at Monday’s hearing

Olivier is accused of helping her husband, the late Michel Fourniret to commit two murders and a kidnap.

The crimes date back to 1988 in the case of Marie-Angele Domece, who disappeared aged 18 from Auxerre, and 1990 for Miss Parrish.

The third charge is for complicity in the 2003 disappearance of nine-year-old Estelle Mouzin, whose body has never been found.

French law prohibited Monique Olivier from being questioned at the hearing, as her lawyer was not present.

Roger Parrish and Pauline Murrell gave evidence at the Cour d’Assise in France

Mr Parrish, from Newnham-on-Severn in Gloucestershire, was close to tears while giving his testimony at the Cour d’Assise in Paris.

“Her life was cruelly ended by a narcissistic psychopath and her female partner who was an active participant in all of his crimes,” said Mr Parrish.

He said Ms Parrish was “highly thought of” by her teachers, and went on to study at the grammar school Ribston Hall High School in Gloucester, where she excelled in French.

She was “thrilled” when she was accepted to Leeds University, where she fostered a love for France, its people and culture, said Mr Parrish.

Her aunt, Pauline Harris, a 77-year-old retired teacher, read out statements from some of Ms Parrish’s peers who described her as a “real life force” with an “unforgettable” and “radiant smile”.

Ms Harris said there was “no helpful response” from the French authorities in the early years after the murder.

As an integral part of her university degree course, Joanna, was required to spend time in France at a Lycee school teaching students.

Mr Parrish told the court how Ms Parish was selling some of her belongings that she no longer needed just a couple of weeks before her placement was coming to an end and she had placed this advert in the local paper offering English lessons.

Ms Parrish posted an advert in a newspaper offering French lessons

Giving evidence at the court, Ms Parish’s fiancée, Patrick Proctor, said Ms Parrish did not have much money and did not want to ask her parents for more.

The couple met at Leeds University in 1987. Ms Parrish was his first love and the pair had planned to get married.

When Ms Parrish was teaching in France, Mr Proctor was teaching in Czechoslovakia. He had visited her in France twice.

“It was agreed that she would come to see me in Czechoslovakia in June. But that never happened,” he said.

Her body was found in a river on 17 May 1990, the same day as her grandmother’s birthday.

Miss Parrish’s aunt, Ms Harris, added it felt as if her heart was “broken into a million pieces”.

“Never ending devastation doesn’t come even close to describing the effect Joanna’s murder had on our family,” said Mr Parrish.

Mr Proctor told the court that her death had affected him so much, he had to pause his studies for two years.

“Thirty years later she is always in my thoughts. At that time, it seemed that the suffering was the worst ever.”

Mr Parrish told the court Janet Davis, a friend of Ms Parrish, came to England after Joanna had died.

There was silence in the court as Mr Parrish became emotional as he explained how Ms Davis had been present when Ms Parrish received a telephone call replying to the advert.

In her statement, Ms Davis said Ms Parrish had made an arrangement to meet a person at a location in the centre of Auxerre. But it was never confirmed who this telephone call was from.

Ms Davis said the appointment in the centre of town was for 19:00 to 19:15.

Dr Jean-Pierre Lauzier, a medical legal expect confirmed that she had injection marks on her arm where she had been given a drug to put her to sleep.

The court was told that Ms Parrish was bound at the ankles and wrist and knocked unconscious by serious blows to the head, probably with an object.

The trial is expected to last for six weeks. Monique Olivier will be questioned about the case against her.

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