Joanna's parents 'more optimistic'

No-one was arrested for the murder of Joanna Parrish

The father of an English student found murdered in France more than a decade ago has welcomed the decision by French police to re-examine her death.

Joanna Parrish's father, Roger, said he was "very pleased" his daughter's case would be re-examined as part of an investigation into the deaths and disappearances of 16 other young women.

Ms Parrish, from Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, was teaching English at a school in Auxerre during a year out from Leeds University when she disappeared in May 1990.

She vanished after meeting a man who answered her newspaper advert offering private English lessons - a day later her naked body was found floating in the river Yonne.

What happened to Joanna is on the fringes of a national scandal

Roger Parrish

Joanna's parents have always said her death was not properly investigated with obvious leads ignored, and crucial DNA evidence and witness reports lost or missing.

This week the French governmentsaid her unsolved murder should be linked to a top-level investigation into the growing scandal of judicial failures in the Auxerre region.

Her case will now be looked at as part of an inquiry by the French judicial inspection service.

It will examine allegations of incompetence, cover-ups and sabotage surrounding the cases of 16 other young women who have died or disappeared in the area in the last 30 years.

'More optimistic'

Mr Parrish said he and his family now had cause for hope that the mystery of her murder may finally be unravelled.

"This is the best news we have had in over 12 years.

"We are now much more optimistic that new evidence, together with a re-examination of existing information, will provide us with answers to the questions we have been putting to the authorities over many years."

As part of the inquiry, the judicial inspection service is expected to examine allegations that a violent undercover sex ring was operating in the Yonne area at least up until the mid-1980s.

Organised abuse

The claims emerged following the "Yonne affair", an inquiry into the fate of seven young mentally handicapped women who may have been sexually abused and murdered in the late 1970s.

Mr Parrish said there was "substantial evidence" that people of power and influence had been involved in the organised rape, torture and sexual abuse of women in the region, 100 miles south of Paris.

He said: "What happened to Joanna is on the fringes of a national scandal.

"She may have stumbled, quite innocently and a few days before she was due to leave, into a trap set by a person or persons who were involved, or who knew about these other events.

Public prosecutor

"We have known about this (the sex ring) for many years, although even at the start, I never felt there was a direct link because of the way this man (the killer) operated.

"But I always felt that if this was followed up then it would show that some of the things we have been saying about the activities of the authorities would come to light and that is exactly what has happened."

Mr Parrish said he was hopeful there would be progress in the investigation, and the potential capture of the killer.

He said he was being kept in touch with the progress of the investigation by the public prosecutor in Auxerre.