The late parents of murdered Julie Ward paid tribute to their daughter after more than three decades searching for her with the words ‘together again’ marked on their gravestone, it has been revealed.
Jan and John Ward died in May and June of last year respectively, after a lifetime spent battling to bring the killer of their 28-year-old daughter to justice.
The couple, who were both born and died within weeks of each other, aged 89, were married for 65-years and never gave up their pursuit of Julie’s killers after she failed to return home from a trip to Kenya in September 1988.
Tim and Bob, surviving sons to Jan and John, organised the funeral for their parents and planned to bury Julie’s ashes in a plot flanked by her mum and dad, reuniting them after decades apart, it was reported last year.
In touching tribute, the parents’ gravestone, in a tranquil corner of a Suffolk churchyard near the family home, would read ‘together again’, The Mirror reported today.
John and Janette Ward, parents of murdered Julie Ward, who devoted their lives to tracking down their daughter’s killer
Julie Ward’s father became convinced the president of Kenya’s son was responsible for his daughter’s death
Julie Ward, who was murdered aged 28 in Kenya 35 years ago, with her brothers Tim (left) and Bob (right)
Julie Ward. Aged 28, she went on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Kenya but never returned
Reiterating plans to continue the family’s investigation into Julie’s death, Bob told the newspaper: ‘I have sent the Metropolitan Police a very detailed and lengthy folder of the investigation.
‘It contained over 100 crucial pieces of evidence which point to the man who committed the murder,’ he claimed.
‘Just last week I wrote again to [Met Commissioner] Mark Rowley to ask how the investigation was proceeding.’
John and Jan Ward spent 35 years trying to bring the killers of young Julie to justice, costing some £2 million and involving as many as 200 trips to Africa.
Julie, on a wildlife photography trip at the time of her disappearance, was last seen going off on her own to pick up some camping equipment on September 6, 1988.
Kenyan authorities claimed Julie had failed to return home to the UK after being mauled to death by animals, that she had been struck by lightning, and that she had even taken her own life.
However, John gathered evidence that led them towards Jonathan Moi, however, the playboy son of the then President of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi.
Jonathan Moi died from cancer in 2019, but even then John refused to give up.
Two game rangers were acquitted of her murder in 1992 due to insufficient evidence.
The case was reexamined in 1997, and two years later a third gamekeeper was tried and acquitted.
In 2004, an inquest in Ipswich came to the verdict of unlawful killing, but nobody was ever charged.
‘There was always a good chance Dad would die before he had a solution and the natural conclusion was that we’d carry on,’ said Bob last year, after his father passed away from cancer.
Only weeks prior, John’s wife, Jan, had died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, worsened by a chest infection, on May 25.
‘Julie was my sister so I can’t help but be drawn into the spider’s web of intrigue,’ Bob said at the time.
‘It became a moral obligation for us to investigate, especially when we knew governments — even our own, protecting their interests in Kenya — had lied.
‘I don’t think Mum was ever keen to know exactly what happened to Julie. She closed her eyes to it and to a certain extent we protected her.’
‘But it was quite different for Dad,’ Tim explained. ‘He was a detail man. He wanted to know. He hoped to drive someone out of the woodwork, to make them say something.
‘So it was always a balance: trying to protect Mum and also moving the investigation forward.’
Speaking to The Mirror, Bob said his father had compiled his findings into a manuscript that the family now hope to publish.
‘Dad’s manuscript is really an expose,’ he said. ‘It lays bare the corrupt actions by the British and Kenyan governments – backed with solid evidence.’
He said his father had brought together 458,000 words over 35-years spent investigating his daughter’s disappearance, which Bob has since edited down.
John believed Jonathan Moi, playboy son of the then President of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, was responsible for Julie’s death. Moi died in 2019
The 28 year old wildlife photographer was murdered in Kenya in September 1988
Bob and Tim (pictured with their sister Julie) vowed to continue their parents’ tireless work
The amateur photographer was raped and murdered and her body dismembered and then burnt (file image)
John died within a fortnight of his wife, in a nursing home.
‘We felt very lucky to have had both our parents until they were almost 90,’ Tim said.
‘They’d been together for 70 years and married for 65. They would have found it very hard to live without each other.
‘One of the doctors said, ‘You’d be surprised at how many couples who’ve been together a very long time, die close together, too.’
Speaking to The Mirror from the graveside in Suffolk Bob reflected: ‘Now all three are together again.’