Julie Ward murder: Parents John Ward, former Bury St Edmunds hotelier, and Jan Ward have died within days of each other
Devoted parents who spent decades trying to find the killer of their daughter Julie Ward have died within days of each other.
Hotelier John Ward, who devoted his life trying to find the killer of Julie, who died in Kenya aged 28 in 1988, died on Wednesday and his wife Jan died on May 25. They were both 89.
John, who owned the former Butterfly Hotel, in Symonds Road, in Bury St Edmunds, spent millions investigating the case.
Julie disappeared in September 1988 during a trip to the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya to photograph wildlife.
She was last seen alive on September 6.
After being reported missing, John flew to Kenya on September 12 in search of his daughter. Her charred remains were discovered on September 13.
Initially local police refused to mount a murder inquiry and her father started his own investigation.
In October 1989 Kenyan authorities finally accepted Julie had been murdered, and so began John’s long quest to find her killer and see them brought to justice.
It has been reported in national media that their sons Robert and Tim Ward are planning to take on the long-running investigation into their sister’s death in honour of their late parents.
Meanwhile, a book, documentary and drama about the case are reportedly in the pipeline.
Speaking to the Bury Free Press on the 20th anniversary of his daughter’s death in 2008, John said he felt: “We have got to the point where we get blocked so often that you think ‘let’s just throw it all up in the air and see where it lands.
“I believe there are people in this country who know who murdered Julie Ward. It only takes one of these people to crack and the whole thing will come crashing down like a pack of cards.”
He said he had been hindered in his investigation by Scotland Yard, MI6 and the Foreign Office, adding: “I don’t drive this thing any more, it drives me.”
A joint funeral service for John and Jan will be held on June 30 in the St Edmunds Chapel at West Suffolk Crematorium. Family flowers only or donations to Born Free can be sent to L Fulcher funeral directors, of Whiting Street.
