Father joins new Kenyan bid to solve bush murder

Julie Ward mystery: Fresh hope after eight-year fight for justice

The father of Julie Ward, the murdered British tourist, arrived in Kenya yesterday to join the fresh investigation into her death eight years ago, following the collapse of the initial inquiry in a police cover-up.

John Ward, a hotelier from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, has spent more than pounds 500,000 in his own quest to discover the truth behind the murder of Ms Ward, who was 28 when she died. A number of high-ranking Kenyans have been implicated in the crime, including a senior policeman, a politician and a confidante of the president.

At first the Kenyan authorities refused to mount a police investigation at all, or even hunt for Ms Ward's body. Mr Ward hired a plane to search the area immediately after her death, and has subsequently travelled to Kenya more than 60 times and taken on his own private detective.

Despite high-level support for the new inquiry, to be led by six investigators, Mr Ward denied reports that officials have indicated that the Kenyan government is preparing to pay all his expenses in an out-of-court settlement. He is currently taking legal action to recover the money.

Mr Ward said: "I've heard nothing, and no one has indicated they want a meeting to settle the issue of my expenses. There certainly wasn't an envelope waiting for me when I arrived. I'm quite confident we will get the money, but we're certainly not there yet."

Mr Ward launched his own campaign to solve Ms Ward's brutal murder at the remote Masai Mara National Park in September 1988 immediately after her death when there was no action from the authorities. Within a week he found her severed leg and part of her jaw. The rest of her body was burned with petrol six miles from her abandoned jeep.

Two game rangers were originally charged with Ms Ward's murder, but they were acquitted in 1992 because of insufficient evidence. The new investigation is expected to focus on statements from a former Kenyan policeman, who claims he witnessed her final hours.

Valentine Kodipo, currently in hiding, said he came across Ms Ward's body while on patrol in the game reserve. He said she was taken bound, gagged and semi-naked from the back of a van and whipped by a number of men including a senior police officer before being bludgeoned to death while a leading politician looked on.

Although Mr Ward is now working alongside the authorities, and his private detective has been made a detective chief inspector for the duration of the investigation, he says that they would never have had a chance of discovering the truth if he had not taken on the case himself.

Mr Ward said: "This investigation really is taking off, and I'm sure the money I have spent will come back. But if I had not had that money to spend at the beginning, we would never have even found her body. Another 24 hours and it would have gone. Then we would never have known what happened to her."

The new investigation may also be backed up by Scotland Yard. Britain and Kenya have agreed to allow the Yard to reopen its own inquiry, but are in dispute over who will pay.