Murder probe obstructed by British police

The British authorities deliberately obstructed the father of Julie Ward in his pursuit of justice over her brutal murder, according to a secret police report. The Foreign Office (FCO) and the British High Commission in Kenya are heavily criticised in the report, which highlights mistakes and cover-ups over the killing 20 years ago this weekend.

Miss Ward, 28, from Brockley, Suffolk, was murdered on the Masai Mara game reserve in September 1988 during a visit to photograph animals. She was almost certainly raped then hacked to death before her body was chopped up, soaked in petrol and set alight.

Jon Stoddart, who wrote the independent report – seen by The Sunday Telegraph – on behalf of Lincolnshire Police, said of the role of the FCO and the British High Commission: "There is clear evidence of inconsistency and contradictions, falsehoods and downright lies, and it is this that has not surprisingly led to John Ward believing that there was an active conspiracy to prevent him from identifying his daughter's killers."

Earlier in the report, Mr Stoddart said: "This realisation [that the initial police inquiry was flawed], allied to the brazen, deceitful and dishonest behaviour of the Kenyan police; the contradictions, untruths and evasive behaviour from a member of the British High Commission (political section) led to Mr Ward pursuing a different line of inquiry – namely that the authorities had conspired deliberately to prevent Julie's murderer(s) from being brought to justice."

Mr Ward, 74, a retired hotelier, has spent almost £2million and travelled to Kenya more than 100 times trying to find his daughter’s killers. He suspects that the British authorities were willing to hamper his inquiries in order to maintain good relations with the then Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi. The Kenyan government, which tried to claim that Miss Ward’s death was an accident or suicide, appears to have wanted the murder hushed up either to protect tourism or the identity of her killers.

Mr Ward believes the 2004 report, which he recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act after it was originally suppressed on the grounds of national security, has “shamed” Britain’s reputation for honesty and fair play. “I felt totally vindicated,” he said. “Everything I have said all along about the widespread extent of the cover-up and deceit was proved to be true.”

It has long been believed that the authorities in Africa were responsible for mishandling the case and, in his report, Mr Stoddart refers to the “early, pathetic and corrupt investigation by the Kenyan police”. However, it is his criticisms of the Government’s representatives and also New Scotland Yard (NSY) that will come as a shock to many. Scotland Yard was brought in to investigate in January 1990, 16 months after Miss Ward’s death. Inquiries in Kenya by two senior officers led to two park rangers being accused of murder. However, they were acquitted after a trial in Nairobi in 1992. The two British detectives ended up using the man who would become the chief suspect for the murder as their main guide during their visit to Kenya in 1990.

Mr Stoddart, who is now the Chief Constable of Durham, said the two officers had “undertaken what is at best a poor investigation, at worst hopelessly flawed. Despite this, two wardens were charged with murder (a capital offence in Kenya) and stood trial when the evidence against them was flimsy”. He said that the inquiry was “inadequately resourced, completed with unseemly haste and superficial” though he conceded that they operated in a “different, hostile environment and, as a result, were apparently unable to distinguish key witnesses from suspects.”

A second inquiry led by the Kenyan police and Mr Ward himself in 1996 led to Simon Makallah, the chief game warden for the Masai Mara, being charged with the murder, but he too was acquitted after a trial the following year. Mr Stoddart’s report says: “It is something of an embarrassment that the NSY officers failed to even rudimentarily test Simon Makallah’s account [of where he was when Julie was murdered], and thereafter used him as their principal liaison officer. “The embarrassment was further compounded when, in 1996, the [Kenyan] Tole Inquiry team charged Makallah with Julie Ward’s murder.”

The initial Scotland Yard team always insisted that they carried out a thorough investigation under difficult circumstances. Now, however, following a scientific breakthrough in the case — disclosed by The Sunday Telegraph three months ago — Mr Ward is optimistic that the case can finally be solved.

A new Scotland Yard team, headed by Assistant Commissioner John Yates, is expected to visit Kenya later this year. A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We reaffirm our sympathy for Julie Ward’s family. We will continue to offer them any help and advice we can. “We deeply regret that nobody has been brought to justice. We strongly refute allegations of a cover-up. “While we absolutely refute any allegations of collusion with the Kenyan government and/or the Metropolitan Police Service, we could and should have handled this case better and have learned from the mistakes that were made 20 years ago.

“The FCO disassociates itself from Section 4 of the Lincolnshire Police report as it contains many inferences and statements which are unfair and unfounded. Our staff co-operated fully and openly with the police inquiry. “They did so on a voluntary basis and not under caution. Those interviewed by the police were not shown the report and so had no opportunity to correct any inaccuracies, erroneous assumptions or accusations levelled against them.”

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “The Metropolitan Police commissioned Lincolnshire Constabulary to conduct an investigation into concerns raised by John Ward about an alleged conspiracy by the UK authorities in covering up his daughter, Julie Ward’s, murder. The outcome of that investigation was that they found no criminal conspiracy involving the Metropolitan Police. The Met is still engaged in investigating Julie Ward’s murder and we are working closely with her father to seek justice.”

Original report here



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