Former president’s son implicated in safari murder of British woman

The son of the previous Kenyan president has been implicated within the homicide of a younger British girl in newly unearthed proof.

Julie Ward was butchered within the Maasai Mara recreation reserve in September 1988 aged 28.

Most of her physique was burned, however a part of her left leg, items of her jaw and her cranium had been discovered intact.

While officers initially tried to counsel that she had died by suicide, been eaten by animals and even struck by lightning, it shortly grew to become clear she had been murdered.

She grew to become a trigger célèbre as her millionaire father relentlessly pursued her killers, however the precise circumstances of Julie’s demise have by no means been solved.

Now, for the primary time, her household has revealed proof within the case that exhibits the Metropolitan Police spoke to a witness in 2011 who supplied a serious breakthrough.

The witness gave an account of occasions that places Jonathan Moi, son of Daniel Arap Moi, the previous Kenyan president, within the body for the homicide.

This newly unearthed assertion represented a major advance within the homicide investigation and reignited the Ward household’s hopes that Julie’s killer would possibly face justice. They’ve spent greater than three many years making an attempt to unravel Julie’s homicide, and say that that is the strongest proof but that places Mr Moi within the space the place the crime was dedicated on the time.

Nonetheless, in a transfer that has been closely criticised by the household, the Met stored the assertion hidden with out totally investigating the claims.

The Ward household believes that that is due to a cover-up orchestrated by the Overseas Workplace (FCDO) and involving the Met, to protect good relations with Kenya.

On the time of Julie’s demise, Kenya was certainly one of Britain’s key defence allies in Africa.

While a cover-up by Britain has by no means been established, The Telegraph can disclose that the proof was stored out of the general public area, with paperwork stating the important thing witness statements had been reserved strictly for the usage of British police.

This was due to the potential threat of reprisals if the contents had been “divulged to the fallacious particular person or on the fallacious time”.

Consequently, it remained beneath lock and key in a London police facility and was solely shared with the Wards after Mr Moi’s demise from pancreatic most cancers in 2019.

The witness assertion was made by a former official at a safari camp within the Masai Mara the place Julie was discovered useless. The witness stated that Mr Moi stayed with them at across the time Julie was lacking, contradicting his earlier proof to police that he had been nowhere close to the scene of the crime.

The household are making the revelation public now as a result of they’ve tried and did not convey a criticism towards the Metropolitan Police for its alleged failures.

 Julie’s brother Bob Ward advised The Telegraph it’s “unthinkable that these statements with such important info have been locked away in a secure in Lewisham for all of those years”, and that the prospect to attain justice for Julie might now have been missed.

In response to the testimony from the camp official, Mr Moi and a small celebration contacted the camp to make a reserving in September 1988, across the time that Julie first went lacking. The group allegedly arrived late one night and left unexpectedly the subsequent morning in a approach that “didn’t make sense” to the camp employee.

The disclosure is critical as a result of Mr Moi had beforehand denied rumours of his involvement in Julie’s homicide, or being anyplace close to the world.

He advised Kenyan police in 1997 that he had been at certainly one of his farms, greater than 150 miles away from the Masai Mara, “all through” that September when Julie died. He additionally stated that he had “by no means been on the Masai Mara recreation reserve”.

The Ward household has lengthy suspected that Mr Moi was concerned in Julie’s demise, however earlier than the camp official’s assertion it was solely primarily based on hearsay and proof from somebody who was himself an admitted killer.

Former Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Adams, whose operation in Kenya obtained the assertion, stated the camp official’s account was “lastly one thing tangible and factual which put Mr Moi within the neighborhood of Julie’s homicide, and supported a idea that he and his cronies had been accountable”.

He added that his private view “is that Jonathan Moi did exit that night time… and he’s taken benefit of her [Julie]. I feel he’s both accountable for her demise or, having taken benefit of her, he’s obtained folks to get rid of the physique”.

The Met confirmed in a current letter to the Ward household that in 2018, when the newest investigation into Julie’s homicide was made “inactive”, Mr Moi was the “one remaining particular person of curiosity”.

By that time, the Met had been in possession of the camp official’s assertion for seven years. The Ward household didn’t get hold of the assertion till 2020, they usually have now shared it with the Telegraph.

However the Wards declare that too little was achieved to interrogate the knowledge within the assertion while Mr Moi was nonetheless alive.

Mr Adams advised the Telegraph that they had been unable to analyze as regular, as a result of they’d advised the witness they might not go the knowledge to the Kenyan police – however on the identical time, the phrases of the Met’s engagement in Kenya meant that the Kenyan police needed to approve all their plans.

“[We said] we’ll preserve it beneath lock and key there till you’re snug with us utilizing it overtly in an investigation, and that’s how I left it once I retired,” Mr Adams stated.

He added that his officers wished to acquire a DNA pattern from Mr Moi to check towards proof, however that ultimately, they didn’t make the request to the Kenyan police as a result of they feared they must clarify why and that this is able to expose their informant.

Mr Adams was not ready to reveal the statements after his retirement, however it’s believed that the Met didn’t share them with the Kenyan Police.

The early investigations

Julie Ward’s homicide was one of the vital infamous unsolved mysteries of the late eighties, akin to the disappearance of property agent Suzy Lamplugh by way of the way in which it captured the general public creativeness.

That was largely right down to John Ward, Julie’s father, who spent greater than £2m of the fortune he amassed as a hotelier making an attempt to convey her killers to justice.

In his seek for solutions, he uncovered a litany of failures by authorities in Kenya, who initially appeared reluctant to acknowledge there had been a homicide in any respect.

The primary pathologist to examine Julie’s stays stated in his draft report that her bones had been “clear lower”, implying that she had been lower with an implement. Nonetheless, Kenya’s most senior pathologist, Dr Jason Kaviti, altered the doc earlier than it could possibly be given to the Ward household in order that it stated her bones had been cracked and torn. This urged wild animals had been guilty as an alternative.

The modification made Mr Ward suspicious, and – together with his belief within the authorities shaken – he took it upon himself to analyze his daughter’s homicide. He was relentless, and over the next years and many years, he helped to make sure that there was a second inquest in Suffolk, and investigations by 4 totally different police forces. There have been additionally two homicide trials of three totally different folks, together with the then head warden on the Masai Mara recreation reserve, however all of the suspects had been acquitted.

In 2004, the federal government that succeeded president Moi admitted that there was a possible cover-up.

The brand new justice minister, Kiraitu Murungi, stated that Mr Ward’s investigations didn’t get an “satisfactory response from the Kenyan authorities on the time”, and that there “seems to be some prima facie proof of deliberate obstruction” by some officers.

What has maybe been extra shocking is the battles that the Ward household have confronted with authorities in Britain.

Within the days after Julie’s demise, John Ward was invited to a gathering with two males on the British Excessive Fee. One of many males tried to influence him that Julie had been struck by lightning and eaten by hyenas. It later emerged that this man was an MI6 informant and the opposite man an MI6 agent.

A while later, in 1990, Scotland Yard officers had been introduced in to take a look at Julie’s demise. Their enquiries led to the arrest of two rangers who stood trial for homicide in 1992 however had been acquitted.

The Ward household now believes that the Met intentionally bungled their investigations within the 90s in an try ‘to pervert the course of justice’.

The kinfolk have spent the final two years pursuing a proper criticism towards the Met Police within the hope that they might persuade the drive to acknowledge its failures and reopen elements of the investigation.

In a letter handed to the police and seen by The Telegraph, they stated: “Justice has not been served to the Ward household, not to mention Julie. Our household have been significantly let down by the Metropolitan Police drive of previous years.

“We imagine, because of the actions of the Metropolitan Police Service officers, a assassin remained free till his dying day and justice was not served for Julie or the Ward household. That is unacceptable to us.”

The Wards added: “We strongly imagine these actions had been orders or directions from greater up the chain of command, particularly the FCDO.”

The Metropolitan Police have declined to reinvestigate the Wards’ allegations that its officers participated in a cover-up, saying that they’ve beforehand been cleared and that its assets ought to be used elsewhere.

A Met spokesman advised The Telegraph that it had suspended the investigation in 2018 as a result of it had exhausted all strains of enquiry. “This resolution was not taken calmly and our ideas stay with Julie’s household, who had been up to date accordingly.

“We have now been clear that detectives would think about any new info offered to them to find out whether or not it represented a brand new and important line of enquiry.”

A Authorities spokesman expressed sympathy for the Ward household and stated that they “deeply remorse” the truth that no person has been dropped at justice within the case.

“The Overseas Workplace has all the time completely refuted any allegations of a cover-up on this historic case,” they added.

As a part of their criticism, the Wards handed over a file of proof of what they understand as a number of failures over time to probe Julie’s demise correctly.

They strongly criticised former Detective Chief Superintendent Ken Thompson for his failure to go to the positioning of Julie’s stays throughout a four-day scoping train in Kenya in 1990. Mr Thompson stated in his report that he had been unable to go due to floor situations.

Additionally they questioned why Mr Thompson directed Kenyan police to Julie’s jeep, with out guaranteeing a forensic examination himself, and imagine that he did so within the information that it’d maintain worthwhile proof. When different Met officers went to Kenya later that yr, the jeep had been dismantled and potential forensic proof misplaced.

Mr Thompson has since died, however at an inquest in 2004, he strongly defended the robustness of his work.

The Wards additionally criticised the detectives who took over from Mr Thompson, citing a 2004 unbiased investigation by Lincolnshire Police. It stated “the New Scotland Yard investigation into the homicide of Julie Ward was poorly led, under-resourced and incompetent”, that “important strains of enquiry had been ignored” and “forensic alternatives had been missed”.

Regardless of these criticisms, the unbiased investigation discovered there was “inadequate proof to assist the allegation of a cover-up”.

Former Detective Chief Superintendent Graham Searle, who was the senior investigating officer on the bottom in 1990, advised the Telegraph: “Beneath the circumstances, we did the easiest job we presumably may. And I stress that beneath the circumstances. It wasn’t the simplest place to work.”

His deputy, David Shipperlee, added that allegations of a Met cover-up had been “utter nonsense” and that he doesn’t imagine the investigation was “incompetent”.

The unbiased investigation was not in a position to resolve one other disturbing discovering: {that a} witness assertion made by John Ward was altered to water down his criticism of the Kenyan authorities.

The Wards imagine it was achieved on the behest of the FCDO to protect good relationships with the Kenyans.

On the time of Julie’s demise, Margaret Thatcher’s Britain donated appreciable sums of overseas support to Kenya. Kenya additionally hosted – and continues to host – an enormous coaching floor used to coach British Military personnel.

The British Military Coaching Unit Kenya, 200 miles north of Nairobi, is giant sufficient to coach complete battalions and was used to prepared personnel for the Falklands Warfare.

The Wards imagine that it will have been profoundly damaging to Britain’s relationship with Kenya if the son of its president had been implicated in Julie’s homicide.

Additionally they firmly imagine that Jonathan Moi was straight or not directly accountable for her demise, though this stays unproven.

Of their criticism to the Met, they’ve accused the drive of creating deliberate errors as a result of it suited Britain “to assist a political ally conceal a assassin”.

The primary time Mr Ward heard Jonathan Moi’s title in reference to Julie’s demise was quickly after her physique was discovered, when a garments vendor within the Masai Mara pressed a notice into Mr Ward’s hand. It bore the phrases: “The person you’re searching for is Jonathan Moi Toroitich” [his Kenyan name].

Some years later, he heard Mr Moi’s title once more from a person known as Valentine Uhuru Kodipo, who secured asylum in Denmark on the premise that he had been a part of a paramilitary unit. He alleged he had witnessed a number of atrocities, together with Julie being tortured and bludgeoned to demise with a membership.

Mr Kodipo claimed Mr Moi was current, together with two different senior political figures in Kenya: Nicholas Biwott, a former cupboard minister, and Noah Arap Too, who was director of the then prison investigation division. Mr Arap Too has beforehand stated he was in London on the vital time. All three males are actually useless, as is Mr Kodipo.

Mr Kodipo’s testimony emerged in 1993, and his asylum declare was authorized, suggesting that a minimum of a few of his outlandish claims might have been seen as credible in some quarters.

Nonetheless, questions have been raised concerning the reliability of his proof, together with by a member of the unit who stated there was no document of Mr Kodipo. Mr Ward additionally believed he caught him in a lie and at one level dismissed him as a “fantasist” whose story was “nothing greater than a brilliantly constructed pack of lies”.

Jonathan Moi responded to Mr Kodipo’s testimony with a press release claiming that he was not within the Masai Mara on the time of Julie’s demise.

“All through the months of September 1988, I used to be at my farm in Eldama Ravine [more than 150 miles north of the Masai Mara]. I’ve a farm at Narok [a town relatively close to the Masai Mara], and on that alleged date of September 6, I used to be at my farm in Eldama Ravine. I’d additionally state that I’ve by no means been on the Masai Mara Recreation Reserve, however at my farm in Narok,” he stated.

He added that he had “nothing to do with…the disappearance of the late Julie Ward.”

The newly emerged witness assertion from the previous camp official supplied a possible approach to disprove Mr Moi’s alibi.

In a handwritten assertion, the previous camp official claimed that they’d personally greeted Mr Moi once they arrived at round 10pm shortly after September 11 1988.

Julie’s stays had been discovered on September 13, every week after she first disappeared. A autopsy has urged that she spent most of this lacking week alive.

Mr Moi’s celebration allegedly left the subsequent morning and by no means returned, which the camp official discovered “uncommon”, the witness assertion exhibits. One member of the celebration allegedly got here again with a proof a day or two later, claiming that they’d obtained misplaced on their approach to go to one other certainly one of Mr Moi’s farms distant – however the former camp employee stated they discovered this purpose “very odd”.

“[I] couldn’t perceive why they might have gone to [that farm] because it was on fully the alternative facet of the Mara to our camp. It didn’t make sense for them to have booked our web site,” the witness stated.

One other supply linked to the identical camp additionally gave a press release, which might solely be disclosed now, and offered letters from the primary camp official, which corroborate among the minor particulars.

For the Wards, these newly emerged paperwork shed some gentle on what might have occurred to Julie. However the household can also be annoyed that they’ve confronted such a battle to get this far – and that the person they imagine is accountable for her demise won’t ever face justice.

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