Monique Olivier found guilty of being involved in murders of three women, including British student Joanna Parrish, by ‘Ogre of the Ardennes’
A woman has been found guilty of involvement in the murders of three people, including a British student, by a man dubbed the ‘Beast of the Ardennes’.
Monique Olivier, who was already serving a life prison sentence for her part in other murders, was tried 33 years after Joanna Parrish was killed in the French city of Auxerre.
Olivier was found guilty of complicity in her murder, as well as those of Marie-Angele Domece in 1988 and Estelle Mouzin in 2003.
She has now been handed a second life sentence, with a minimum prison term of 20 years.
Her head remained bowed, with her eyes almost completely closed, throughout the sentencing – in which the gruesome details about the murders were read out.
Speaking after the hearing, Joanna’s father, Roger Parrish, said his family were “satisfied” that the court had “recognised Monique Olivier’s part in the murder of our daughter and sister”.
“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,” he said.
Joanna Parrish was raped, beaten and strangled
“From the very first moment that a victim was identified, she knew exactly what would happen to them, and not only did she do nothing to help them, but she actively encouraged and participated.
“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.
“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 her many friends remember her.”
Asked later by Sky News later how he felt about the verdict, he said: “I think relief, probably.
“We always wanted to achieve some sense of justice for our daughter because she deserved, believe me, she really deserved it.
“She deserved a long, happy, and fulfilled life, which I’m sure she would have had, had she not had the desperate, desperate misfortune to come across a couple like them.
“So we did it to bring an element of justice for Jo.”
‘The Beast of the Ardennes’
Joanna, a 20-year-old university student from Gloucestershire, was working in France as part of her university course.
She was murdered by Olivier’s husband, Michel Fourniret, in May 1990.
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‘She deserved a long, happy life’
Joanna had placed an advert in a paper offering English lessons and had been contacted by Fourniret, who arranged to meet her and claimed he wanted to organise lessons for his son.
Her body was found in the River Yonne and a post-mortem showed that Joanna had been raped, beaten and strangled.
Fourniret is one of the most notorious serial killers in France’s history.
He was convicted of killing eight women, but died in 2021 before he could be tried for the murders of Joanna, as well as Marie-Angele Domece, 18, and Estelle Mouzin, 9.
He may have killed other victims, who have not yet been identified.
Olivier was his accomplice throughout.
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The pair first got to know each other as pen-pals in 1984, when Fourniret was in prison for sexually assaulting five young girls.
In letters that were never checked by prison authorities, he told Olivier of his fantasies of raping and murdering young girls.
Olivier, far from being appalled, said that she would help him fulfil those dreams as long as Fourniret, in turn, murdered her husband.
In the end, her first husband, Andre Michaux, survived, although his property was burnt down.
But Fourniret’s side of the bargain was to be fulfilled in a truly horrific way.
Serial killer, Michel Fourniret
Repeatedly, Olivier acted as a lure – tricking girls and young women into entering a vehicle, thinking they were safe.
Instead, Fourniret was waiting inside, ready to assault and then kill his victims.
Couple used baby son to reassure victims
Olivier and Fourniret had a son, called Selim.
Olivier used her pregnancy to further reassure victims and then, after his birth, even exploited her baby.
On one notorious occasion, she asked a 12-year-old girl, Elisabeth Brichet, for help with her crying baby, pleading for her to come to the van and give directions to a doctor.
A few minutes later, Olivier sat with her child in the front seat of their van while, behind them, Fourniret was brutally attacking Elisabeth before later killing her.
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Parents’ 33-year wait for justice
In court, she gave evidence for day after day, standing in a dock that was surrounded by tall glass.
Watched by the families of all three victims, Olivier admitted that what she had done had been “monstrous” but said she had been intimidated by Fourniret, and scared of defying him.
The prosecution, as at her previous trials, admitted her involvement in the murders but claimed that she had, in fact, been a willing participant and had repeatedly passed over chances to help victims escape.
‘I couldn’t cry for six months’
Olivier, now 75 years old, stood up and spoke with a clear, conversational tone, her voice occasionally slowing and softening.
She rarely showed any emotion, even when admitting her role in the deaths.
She said Joanna didn’t deserve to die and that she was “a beautiful girl.”
But she also clashed angrily with her own son when he gave evidence against her.
She mocked the disguise he wore on a video link and he responded by saying: “Now you see the real Monique Olivier”.
Joanna Parrish’s parents, Pauline and Roger
Joanna’s murder left her parents devastated.
Her mother Pauline Murrell told Sky News: “They said she was found in the water, and I was staring out of a window and I simply couldn’t take it in. I couldn’t cry for six months.
“Then I got the post-mortem report and I opened it on a Sunday morning, and I wasn’t able to get out of bed.”
Roger Parrish said: “She deserved a long and happy, fulfilled life. She worked hard and she deserved it. She was helpful, part of the community. People still remember her.
“Jo was a kind person but she was also bright and smart. She was not likely to have trusted a man who was by himself.
“When we found out that there was a female accomplice, I remember thinking that we had never thought of that. Why would we have done? But right from that moment, I thought, ‘this is it – this is the person’.”
The Pope has said he is “deeply saddened” by the deaths of three people in an Israeli strike on the only Catholic church in Gaza.
A further nine people were wounded when the Gaza’s Holy Family Church was hit, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement.
“On behalf of the entire Church of the Holy Land, we extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and from here, we offer our prayers for the swift and full recovery of the wounded,” the statement reads.
“The Latin Patriarchate strongly condemns this tragedy and this targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place.
“However, this tragedy is not greater or more terrible than the many others that have befallen Gaza.”
Parish priest Father Gabriele Romanelli, an Argentinian who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the conflict in Gaza, was lightly injured in the attack.
Parish priest of the Church of the Holy Family, father Gabriele Romanelli, receives medical attention.
Pic: Reuters
In a telegram for the victims, Pope Leo said he was “deeply saddened” and called for “an immediate ceasefire”.
The Pope expressed his “profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region,” according to the telegram, which was signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told the Vatican News website that the church was shelled by a tank.
“What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin Church”, he said
The church was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the wounded.
Pope Leo XIV. File pic: Reuters
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was “aware of reports regarding damage caused to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and casualties at the scene. The circumstances of the incident are under review”.
“The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites,
and regrets any damage caused to them,” the statement added.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X that the results of the investigation would be published.
It also said the country did not target churches or religious sites and regretted harm to them or civilians.
The previous pope, Francis, spoke almost daily with Gaza church. In the last 18 months of his life, Francis would often call the church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.
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At least 20 more people were killed on Thursday by Israeli attacks across the besieged enclave, medics said.
Throughout the 21-month war, more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
Israel launched a retaliatory campaign against Hamas following the militant group’s 7 October 2023 attacks, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
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Syria’s president vows to protect Druze population after Israel airstrikes – as new ceasefire begins
Syria’s president has said protecting the rights of the Druze population is “our priority” after Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking the minority.
In a televised statement early today, Ahmed al Sharaa told the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.
Following the president’s announcement and a ceasefire agreement, Syrian government forces on Thursday largely withdrew from the volatile southern province of Sweida.
Under the terms of the agreement, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security.
As the violence escalated in Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has pledged to “act resolutely against any terrorist threat on its borders”.
The Druze population follow an offshoot of Islam and are estimated to number about one million, spread between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
Sharaa – Syria’s interim leader after President Assad fled last year – gave a televised statement on Wednesday telling the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
“We are not among those who fear the war,” he added.
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Moment Israel strikes Syrian military HQ
“We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,” said the president.
He also claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.
Israel has accused the Syrian regime of being barely disguised jihadists – despite warming ties with Western countries such as the UK and US.
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The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as of Wednesday morning, more than 300 people had been killed in the flare-up of violence.
Around 1,000 Druze people broke through a fence into southern Syria on Wednesday in a bid to help, according to The Times of Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu urged people not to cross into Syria and Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir warned they would not “allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold”.
The UN Security Council will discuss the situation today, despite the US secretary of state saying yesterday that America had brokered an end to the violence.
“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria,” Marco Rubio said on social media.
“We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight.”
Syrian soldiers were seen pulling out of Sweida overnight. Pic: Reuters
The intervention appeared to have an immediate effect.
The situation was calm on Thursday morning, according to Reuters sources in the area.
A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.
At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.
Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.
Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.
Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.
Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.
Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau holding a press conference in Bangkok. Pic: Central Investigation Bureau/AP
An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.
He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.
She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.
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Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.
The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.
“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”
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