AFTER 28-years of doubts, lies, blunders and misinformation, the final pieces in the jigsaw mystery of who killed Newnham student Joanna Parrish look set to fall into place.

In a hushed Paris courtroom this week, Monique Olivier, 70, told how she and her former husband serial killer Michel Fourniret, 76, - the ‘Ogre of the Ardennes’ - dumped Joanna’s naked body in the River Yonne in 1990.

The closed court preliminary hearing heard she had got out of the van in which they picked up the student because she did not want to witness the horrific crime about to unfold.

Olivier had been grilled for two days by the judges who pressed her for details of the crime against the 20-year-old student, from Newnham.

Olivier had previously admitted her part in Joanna’s murder but later withdrew her statement, claiming it had been made under pressure, after it emerged a prosecutor had slapped her during an interview.

The first cracks in Fourniret’s denial came in February this year when he told examining magistrates in Paris that he ended the lives of both Jo and Marie-Ange Domece, a mentally handicapped teenager who disappeared in 1988, aged 19.

Jo’s father Roger Parrish, who has battled tirelessly for nearly 28-years to win justice for his daughter said at the time he was now hopeful that Fourniret will go on trial for her murder.

He said: “They say he has definitely confessed although we are being slightly cautious as Fourniret is a cunning individual and he is not incapable of saying one thing today and then recanting shortly afterwards.

Mr Parrish added: “But we are hopeful the case will now go to trial. This brings us mixed emotions but I think the main one is relief.”

Olivier’s latest confession brings the tragic 28-year narrative one step closer to closure and for Joanna’s parents it must come with a further sense of relief.

Fournier could now face trial for the 20-year-old’s murder next year. His conviction would mean closure for her parents and the end of their ordeal.