DNA hope in murdered student case

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DNA evidence from the case of a student murdered in France 17 years ago is being released by French detectives and brought to the UK for testing.

The body of Joanna Parrish, 21, from Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, was found in the River Yonne in 1990.

Her father, Roger, hopes a cold case expert in the UK will be able to build a DNA profile of his daughter's killer.

Mr Parrish believes she was the victim of convicted Belgian paedophile, 63-year-old Michel Fourniret.

Analysis difficulties

In November, a French prosecutor ruled that Fourniret will not stand trial for Joanna's murder.

He is in custody awaiting trial after being charged with murdering seven young women in Belgium and France since 1987.

Mr Parrish said there had been difficulties with French police analysing the forensic science evidence in his daughter's case, which is held by several laboratories in France.

"Once [the evidence] is over here, Dr Colin Dark says it'll be between two and four weeks before the first analysis is done," he said.

"It might completely rule out this man, it might completely implicate him, or it might leave us not knowing Roger Parrish

"We're always wary because of our experiences over 17 years. There have been lots of ups and downs.

"Dr Dark has told us there are three alternatives. It might completely rule out this man, it might completely implicate him, or it might leave us not knowing as well."

Ms Parrish was taking a year out from Leeds University, teaching English at a school in Auxerre, when she vanished in May 1990.

She disappeared after going to meet a man who answered her newspaper advert offering private English lessons.

Her strangled body was found the next day. She had been raped and beaten.

Mr Parrish has spent more than £30,000 in his 17-year quest to find the killer.