Distraught parents of Joanna Parrish walk out of French court as Ogre of Ardennes’ wife gives graphic account of how he raped and killed the Brit after deciding to ‘have some fun’ during trip to village

• Olivier recalled how the ‘Ogre of the Ardennes’ grilled Joanna about her sex life
• Parrish’s parents heard Olivier admit she acted as ‘bait’ to lure Joanna into van

Joanna Parrish’s distraught parents walked out of a Paris courtroom yesterday as the ‘Ogress of the Ardennes’ gave the first graphic account of their daughter’s rape and murder.

Previously unknown details revealed by Monique Olivier were so distressing that, after two torturous hours, Roger Parrish, 80, and his former wife Pauline Murrell, 75, could not bear to listen any longer.

Patrick Proctor, the 20-year-old student’s steady boyfriend when she was killed in 1993, and her aunt, Pauline Harris, 77, also left the room.

They had heard Olivier admit she acted as ‘bait’ to lure Joanna into the back of a van, then ignored the young British woman’s last desperate screams as she attempted to fend off the punches rained down by her husband, serial killer Michel Fourniret.

The family’s torment was exacerbated when Olivier recalled how the ‘Ogre of the Ardennes’ – who had a perverse obsession for defiling virgins – grilled Joanna about her sex life before setting about her.

‘He asked her if she had a boyfriend,’ she told the court. ‘It must have annoyed him when she said she had, because (to him) it meant she was not a virgin. In sexuality he always wanted to be the first. That’s why he was violent and did what he did.’

Previously unknown details revealed by Monique Olivier were so distressing, Roger Parrish, 80, and his former wife Pauline Murrell, 75, left the court room (both are pictured)

‘Ogre of the Ardennes’ – who had a perverse obsession for defiling virgins – grilled Brit Joanna Parrish (pictured) about her sex life before setting about her

Monique Olivier admitted she acted as ‘bait’ to lure Joanna into the back of a van, then ignored the young British woman’s last desperate screams. Pictured: Olivier in court on November 28

However, by refusing to attend the late morning session, the travelling Parrish contingent were spared from sitting through the most harrowing part of the proceedings.

It came when lawyer Didier Seban attempted to prick Olivier’s conscience by confronting her with photographs of Joanna.

Projected onto a screen, the first set of pictures showed the carefree young woman enjoying a day out in Paris and posing demurely.

Thrust into Olivier’s veiny, shaking hand, the second set reminded her how her victim looked after her bruised and bloated body had been fished from a river.

‘Look at her. Do you recognize her?’ asked Mr Seban contemptuously. ‘What effect does that have on you? What do you say to that? What can I tell the parents of Joanna?’

It was the closest the stone-faced 75-year-old woman in the dock came to breaking. ‘It’s not possible,’ she muttered, shaking her grey head. ‘She was beautiful. She deserved to live. I truly regret it.

‘Because of me she is gone. It’s unforgiveable. If it had been my daughter, I think I would have done something. I would have looked for…..’ her voice trailed off.

Another dramatic day began with Judge Didier Safar reminding Olivier – who cut a shambolic figure in her grubby cream sweatshirt – that relatives of Joanna and two other murdered girls had come to hear her ‘explain yourself free your conscience.’

Poking her prominent nose through a gap in the bullet proof screen to make herself heard, she at first frustrated the court with mumbled replies and claims that she couldn’t remember events 30 years ago.

Gradually, however, the full horrific story emerged. It became clear that Joanna fell into the ogre’s clutches by a series of catastrophic coincidences.

In May 1990, when she was coming to the end of a year-long teaching assignment in Auxerre, Fourniret and Olivier had already begun their husband-and-wife murdering spree (which, the court heard yesterday, could have claimed the lives of as many as 35 young women and girls, though the Ogre was only convicted of eight).

However, the couple had by then moved to Belgium, and only returned to their former home, in a village near Auxerre, that month to collect some furniture. While they were away, Olivier said sickeningly, Fourniret decided to ‘have some fun’.

Patrick Proctor, Parrish’s steady boyfriend when she was killed in 1993, and her aunt, Pauline Harris, 77, also left the court after hearing graphic details. Pictured: Joanna in 1988

Olivier (pictured in 2008) ignored Parrish’s screams as she attempted to fend off the punches rained down by her husband, serial killer Michel Fourniret

A picture taken in 1990 of Joanna Parrish (L) and her brother Barney in Paris

As was their habit, they cruised the streets for suitable targets. Fourniret would also scour newspapers and billboards for small-ads placed by vulnerable girls, and by chance Joanna had just advertised her services as an English tutor.

Pretending he wanted her to teach their son, Selim (then only 18 months old), he phoned her. A meeting was fixed for around 7pm in Auxerre centre. Joanna was so excited at the prospect that she had no hesitation in climbing in the back of the white Citroen.

Fourniret later told police that but for his wife’s presence Joanna would not have got into the vehicle and would still be alive, the court heard.

Explaining his maniacal compulsion, Olivier said: ‘He told me it was like a cavalry charge in his head that forced him to go off hunting (virgins).’

Were you the dog who found his prey, M. Seban asked her? ‘Yes,if you want to put it like that,’ she said wretchedly.

Insisting she was acting under Fourniret’s influence, she added: ‘I deserve to be in prison because I helped him do all these terrible things.

‘I should have done what I needed to do (to prevent the attack on Joanna). But I was scared of him and scared of what was happening. Fear and panic stopped me.’

‘Don’t tell us that you were the victim!’ M. Seban snapped back.

Olivier said Fourniret had originally intended to kidnap Joanna and take her back to their home in the village. For some unknown reason, however, his plans changed. 

They drove around for about an hour seeking a quiet place, then he tied her up, raped her and strangled her with tape he used for DIY before flinging her in the river.

Denying she was equally culpable in Joanna’s murder, Olivier, who is already serving life with a minimum of 28 years for four other murders, insisted: ‘It was obedience – not pleasure.’

Source: Read Full Article