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Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Former president's son implicated in safari murder of British woman
The son of the former Kenyan president has been implicated in the murder of a young British woman in newly unearthed evidence. Julie Ward was butchered in the Maasai Mara game reserve in September 1988 aged 28. Most of her body was burned, but part of her left leg, pieces of her jaw and her skull were found intact. While officials initially tried to suggest that she had died by suicide, been eaten by animals or even struck by lightning, it quickly became clear she had been murdered. She became a cause célèbre as her millionaire father relentlessly pursued her killers, but the exact circumstances of Julie's death have never been solved. Now, for the first time, her family has revealed evidence in the case that shows the Metropolitan Police spoke to a witness in 2011 who offered a major breakthrough. The witness gave an account of events that puts Jonathan Moi, son of Daniel Arap Moi, the former Kenyan president, in the frame for the murder. This newly unearthed statement represented a significant advance in the murder investigation and reignited the Ward family's hopes that Julie's killer might face justice. They have spent more than three decades trying to solve Julie's murder, and say that this is the strongest evidence yet that puts Mr Moi in the area where the crime was committed at the time. However, in a move that has been heavily criticised by the family, the Met kept the statement hidden without fully investigating the claims. The Ward family believes that this is because of a cover-up orchestrated by the Foreign Office (FCDO) and involving the Met, to preserve good relations with Kenya. At the time of Julie's death, Kenya was one of Britain's key defence allies in Africa. Whilst a cover-up by Britain has never been established, The Telegraph can disclose that the evidence was kept out of the public domain, with documents stating the key witness statements were reserved strictly for the use of British police. This was because of the potential risk of reprisals if the contents were 'divulged to the wrong person or at the wrong time'. As a result, it remained under lock and key in a London police facility and was only shared with the Wards after Mr Moi's death from pancreatic cancer in 2019. The witness statement was made by a former official at a safari camp in the Masai Mara where Julie was found dead. The witness said that Mr Moi stayed with them at around the time Julie was missing, contradicting his previous evidence to police that he had been nowhere near the scene of the crime. The family are making the revelation public now because they have tried and failed to bring a complaint against the Metropolitan Police for its alleged failures. Julie's brother Bob Ward told The Telegraph it is 'unthinkable that those statements with such vital information have been locked away in a safe in Lewisham for all of these years', and that the chance to achieve justice for Julie may now have been missed. According to the testimony from the camp official, Mr Moi and a small party contacted the camp to make a booking in September 1988, around the time that Julie first went missing. The group allegedly arrived late one evening and left unexpectedly the next morning in a way that 'did not make sense' to the camp worker. The disclosure is significant because Mr Moi had previously denied rumours of his involvement in Julie's murder, or being anywhere near the area. He told Kenyan police in 1997 that he had been at one of his farms, more than 150 miles away from the Masai Mara, 'throughout' that September when Julie died. He also said that he had 'never been at the Masai Mara game reserve'. The Ward family has long suspected that Mr Moi was involved in Julie's death, but before the camp official's statement it was only based on rumour and evidence from someone who was himself an admitted killer. Former Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Adams, whose operation in Kenya obtained the statement, said the camp official's account was 'finally something tangible and factual which put Mr Moi in the vicinity of Julie's murder, and supported a theory that he and his cronies were responsible'. He added that his personal view 'is that Jonathan Moi did go out that night… and he's taken advantage of her [Julie]. I think he's either responsible for her death or, having taken advantage of her, he's got people to dispose of the body'. The Met confirmed in a recent letter to the Ward family that in 2018, when the most recent investigation into Julie's murder was made 'inactive', Mr Moi was the 'one remaining person of interest'. By that point, the Met had been in possession of the camp official's statement for seven years. The Ward family did not obtain the statement until 2020, and they have now shared it with the Telegraph. But the Wards claim that too little was done to interrogate the information in the statement whilst Mr Moi was still alive. Mr Adams told the Telegraph that they were unable to investigate as normal, because they had told the witness they would not pass the information to the Kenyan police – but at the same time, the terms of the Met's engagement in Kenya meant that the Kenyan police had to approve all their plans. '[We said] we'll keep it under lock and key there until you are comfortable with us using it openly in an investigation, and that's how I left it when I retired,' Mr Adams said. He added that his officers wanted to obtain a DNA sample from Mr Moi to compare against evidence, but that in the end, they did not make the request to the Kenyan police because they feared they would have to explain why and that this would expose their informant. Mr Adams was not in a position to disclose the statements after his retirement, but it is believed that the Met did not share them with the Kenyan Police. Julie Ward's murder was one of the most notorious unsolved mysteries of the late eighties, comparable to the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh in terms of the way it captured the public imagination. That was largely down to John Ward, Julie's father, who spent more than £2m of the fortune he amassed as a hotelier trying to bring her killers to justice. In his search for answers, he exposed a litany of failures by authorities in Kenya, who initially appeared reluctant to acknowledge there had been a murder at all. The first pathologist to inspect Julie's remains said in his draft report that her bones were 'clean cut', implying that she had been cut with an implement. However, Kenya's most senior pathologist, Dr Jason Kaviti, altered the document before it could be given to the Ward family so that it said her bones were cracked and torn. This suggested wild animals were to blame instead. The amendment made Mr Ward suspicious, and – with his trust in the authorities shaken - he took it upon himself to investigate his daughter's murder. He was relentless, and over the following years and decades, he helped to ensure that there was a second inquest in Suffolk, and investigations by four different police forces. There were also two murder trials of three different people, including the then head warden at the Masai Mara game reserve, but all the suspects were acquitted. In 2004, the government that succeeded president Moi admitted that there was a potential cover-up. The new justice minister, Kiraitu Murungi, said that Mr Ward's investigations did not get an 'adequate response from the Kenyan authorities at the time', and that there 'appears to be some prima facie evidence of deliberate obstruction' by some officials. What has perhaps been more surprising is the battles that the Ward family have faced with authorities in Britain. In the days after Julie's death, John Ward was invited to a meeting with two men at the British High Commission. One of the men attempted to persuade him that Julie had been struck by lightning and eaten by hyenas. It later emerged that this man was an MI6 informant and the other man an MI6 agent. Some time later, in 1990, Scotland Yard officers were brought in to look at Julie's death. Their enquiries led to the arrest of two rangers who stood trial for murder in 1992 but were acquitted. The Ward family now believes that the Met deliberately bungled their investigations in the 90s in an attempt 'to pervert the course of justice'. The relatives have spent the last two years pursuing a formal complaint against the Met Police in the hope that they would persuade the force to acknowledge its failures and reopen parts of the investigation. In a letter handed to the police and seen by The Telegraph, they said: 'Justice has not been served to the Ward family, let alone Julie. Our family have been seriously let down by the Metropolitan Police force of past years. 'We believe, due to the actions of the Metropolitan Police Service officers, a murderer remained free until his dying day and justice was not served for Julie or the Ward family. This is unacceptable to us.' The Wards added: 'We strongly believe these actions were orders or instructions from higher up the chain of command, namely the FCDO.' The Metropolitan Police have declined to reinvestigate the Wards' allegations that its officers participated in a cover-up, saying that they have previously been cleared and that its resources should be used elsewhere. A Met spokesman told The Telegraph that it had suspended the investigation in 2018 because it had exhausted all lines of enquiry. 'This decision was not taken lightly and our thoughts remain with Julie's family, who were updated accordingly. 'We have been clear that detectives would consider any new information provided to them to determine whether it represented a new and significant line of enquiry.' A Government spokesman expressed sympathy for the Ward family and said that they 'deeply regret' the fact that nobody has been brought to justice in the case. 'The Foreign Office has always absolutely refuted any allegations of a cover-up in this historic case,' they added. As part of their complaint, the Wards handed over a dossier of evidence of what they perceive as multiple failures over the years to probe Julie's death properly. They strongly criticised former Detective Chief Superintendent Ken Thompson for his failure to visit the site of Julie's remains during a four-day scoping exercise in Kenya in 1990. Mr Thompson said in his report that he had been unable to go because of ground conditions. They also questioned why Mr Thompson directed Kenyan police to Julie's jeep, without ensuring a forensic examination himself, and believe that he did so in the knowledge that it might hold valuable evidence. When other Met officers went to Kenya later that year, the jeep had been dismantled and potential forensic evidence lost. Mr Thompson has since died, but at an inquest in 2004, he strongly defended the robustness of his work. The Wards also criticised the detectives who took over from Mr Thompson, citing a 2004 independent investigation by Lincolnshire Police. It said 'the New Scotland Yard investigation into the murder of Julie Ward was poorly led, under-resourced and incompetent', that 'significant lines of enquiry were ignored' and 'forensic opportunities were missed'. Despite these criticisms, the independent investigation found there was 'insufficient evidence to support the allegation of a cover-up'. Former Detective Chief Superintendent Graham Searle, who was the senior investigating officer on the ground in 1990, told the Telegraph: 'Under the circumstances, we did the very best job we possibly could. And I stress that under the circumstances. It wasn't the easiest place to work.' His deputy, David Shipperlee, added that allegations of a Met cover-up were 'utter nonsense' and that he doesn't believe the investigation was 'incompetent'. The independent investigation was not able to get to the bottom of another disturbing finding: that a witness statement made by John Ward was altered to water down his criticism of the Kenyan authorities. The Wards believe it was done at the behest of the FCDO to preserve good relationships with the Kenyans. At the time of Julie's death, Margaret Thatcher's Britain donated considerable sums of foreign aid to Kenya. Kenya also hosted - and continues to host - a huge training ground used to train British Army personnel. The British Army Training Unit Kenya, 200 miles north of Nairobi, is large enough to train whole battalions and was used to ready personnel for the Falklands War. The Wards believe that it would have been profoundly damaging to Britain's relationship with Kenya if the son of its president had been implicated in Julie's murder. They also firmly believe that Jonathan Moi was directly or indirectly responsible for her death, although this remains unproven. In their complaint to the Met, they have accused the force of making deliberate mistakes because it suited Britain 'to help a political ally hide a murderer'. The first time Mr Ward heard Jonathan Moi's name in connection with Julie's death was soon after her body was found, when a clothes seller in the Masai Mara pressed a note into Mr Ward's hand. It bore the words: 'The man you are looking for is Jonathan Moi Toroitich' [his Kenyan name]. Some years later, he heard Mr Moi's name again from a man called Valentine Uhuru Kodipo, who secured asylum in Denmark on the basis that he had been part of a paramilitary unit. He alleged he had witnessed several atrocities, including Julie being tortured and bludgeoned to death with a club. Mr Kodipo claimed Mr Moi was present, along with two other senior political figures in Kenya: Nicholas Biwott, a former cabinet minister, and Noah Arap Too, who was director of the then criminal investigation department. Mr Arap Too has previously said he was in London at the critical time. All three men are now dead, as is Mr Kodipo. Mr Kodipo's testimony emerged in 1993, and his asylum claim was approved, suggesting that at least some of his outlandish claims may have been seen as credible in some quarters. However, questions have been raised about the reliability of his evidence, including by a member of the unit who said there was no record of Mr Kodipo. Mr Ward also believed he caught him in a lie and at one point dismissed him as a 'fantasist' whose story was 'nothing more than a brilliantly constructed pack of lies'. Jonathan Moi responded to Mr Kodipo's testimony with a statement claiming that he was not in the Masai Mara at the time of Julie's death. 'Throughout the months of September 1988, I was at my farm in Eldama Ravine [more than 150 miles north of the Masai Mara]. I have a farm at Narok [a town relatively close to the Masai Mara], and on that alleged date of September 6, I was at my farm in Eldama Ravine. I would also state that I have never been at the Masai Mara Game Reserve, but at my farm in Narok,' he said. He added that he had 'nothing to do with…the disappearance of the late Julie Ward.' The newly emerged witness statement from the former camp official offered a potential way to disprove Mr Moi's alibi. In a handwritten statement, the former camp official claimed that they had personally greeted Mr Moi when they arrived at around 10pm shortly after September 11 1988. Julie's remains were found on September 13, a week after she first disappeared. A post-mortem has suggested that she spent most of this missing week alive. Mr Moi's party allegedly left the next morning and never returned, which the camp official found 'unusual', the witness statement shows. One member of the party allegedly came back with an explanation a day or two later, claiming that they had got lost on their way to visit another one of Mr Moi's farms far away – but the former camp worker said they found this reason 'very odd'. '[I] could not understand why they would have gone to [that farm] as it was on completely the opposite side of the Mara to our camp. It did not make sense for them to have booked our site,' the witness said. Another source linked to the same camp also gave a statement, which can only be disclosed now, and provided letters from the first camp official, which corroborate some of the minor details. For the Wards, these newly emerged documents shed some light on what may have happened to Julie. But the family is also frustrated that they have faced such a battle to get this far – and that the man they believe is responsible for her death will never face justice. Listen to a special episode of the Daily T podcast about the murder of Julie Ward and her family's fight for justice on the audio player in this article. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE She was brutally murdered on a dream safari trip - now shocking bombshell evidence 'finally blows Julie Ward's alleged playboy killer's alibi apart'
Bombshell new evidence in the murder of Julie Ward in Kenya was locked in a safe by Scotland Yard – allowing her suspected killer to escape justice, her family allege today. Kenyan President's playboy son Jonathan Moi should have been arrested after the explosive new testimony against him. But thanks to an alleged cover-up involving the Yard, the Foreign Office and the Kenyan authorities, he lived as a free man for the rest of his days. Now Julie's furious family have lodged a formal complaint against the Metropolitan Police. Her businessman father John Ward devoted 35 years – the rest of his days – on a relentless quest to find who brutally killed his beloved 28-year-old daughter in 1988. He spent £2million and made almost 200 trips to Africa, with the evidence he doggedly amassed pointing to one sinister conclusion – that she had been kidnapped, raped and then murdered on the orders of the president's dissolute son. But instead of justice, over the years Mr Ward faced lies, obfuscation, cover-ups, corruption, tampering of statements and destruction of evidence. Moi was never properly investigated, let alone brought to trial. Perhaps most shocking of all is the alleged collusion of the British government and Scotland Yard in the international cover-up. The riddle of Julie's death remains unresolved. Yet today the Mail can reveal a tragic - and perhaps the most significant - development in the mystery so far: a bombshell witness statement that places Moi near the scene of the crime, suggesting he had blatantly lied about his location at the time of Julie's disappearance. According to the police officer who obtained it, it would 'blow the case wide open'. Yet while the damning statement was obtained in 2011, inexplicably the dramatic breakthrough was never pursued and the prime suspect lived as a free man until he died of cancer just six years ago. Meanwhile this key piece of evidence was left to rot, not in Kenya but locked up in a Metropolitan Police safe in Lewisham, south London for nine years. Inevitably, this reinforces the Ward family's well-grounded suspicions that the circumstances of Julie's murder were shamefully suppressed in order to maintain good diplomatic relations between Britain and Kenya. And even today, nearly 40 years after the murder that shocked the nation, Julie's family believe Scotland Yard is still – at the behest of the Foreign Office - trying to hush up the truth. They have lodged a formal complaint with the Met seeking answers. As Bob Ward, Julie's younger brother, asks: 'Why was this vital piece of evidence left under lock and key for so long? Their failure to act on it – and indeed to bury it – conveniently until after the prime suspect had died is as scandalous as it is upsetting. It's a real betrayal of justice.' John, I think we've blown the case wide open Scotland Yard detective to John Ward It is Bob, 61, who is now spearheading the quest for truth. John Ward died in 2023 shortly before turning 90 – just two weeks after Julie's mother Janette passed away at the same age – with their mission incomplete. But it did not die with them, as Bob and Julie's other brother Tim have taken up the mantle. 'Julie was a really gentle, sweet, softly spoken, kind, generous, loving soul. And she deserves justice, as do Mum and Dad,' Bob says. 'It's indisputable there have been lies. We are as determined as ever to get to the truth.' Animal lover Julie had been on a six-month safari trip-of-a-lifetime to photograph wildlife when she disappeared in 1988. The last reported sighting of the beautiful 28-year-old was at the Sand River Campsite in the Masai Mara game reserve on September 6. Four days later, Mr and Mrs Ward endured the phonecall every parent dreads. Julie, who had been due to fly home to Britain within days, had gone missing. Within hours John, then 55 and who had never been to Africa, had booked a plane to Kenya to set up his own search for his missing daughter. The new testimony from a highly-credible witness placing Moi near the scene of Julie's murder He organised five aircraft, with spotters, to conduct a grid search of the area where Julie was last seen and found her jeep in a gully, away from any tracks. Her remains were later discovered in a remote spot, some 10 miles from her abandoned vehicle. It was Mr Ward who had the devastating experience of picking up all that was left of his daughter, a jaw and lower left leg, both burned. In the early days, overwhelmed by waves of grief yet determined to hunt down the perpetrator, Mr Ward was perplexed by the authorities' bizarre theories. A police pathologist originally said Julie had been murdered, but then his report was blatantly doctored by Kenya's chief pathologist. The conclusion 'sharp clean cuts' with a heavy blade was changed to blunt 'torn' injuries that could have been caused by wild animals. It's a real betrayal of justice Julie's brother Bob Ward Mr Ward was told variously by Kenyan police that his daughter had been: mauled by lions, struck by lightning or even taken her own life. Refusing to accept these preposterous theories, over the months that followed, he commissioned 10 forensic reports, including two from Home Office-approved pathologists in Britain. These found that his daughter had been murdered, hacked up, soaked in petrol and set on fire. The sheer weight of his dossier of evidence presented to Julie's inquest in Kenya in 1989 gave the judge no option but to conclude she was murdered rather than eaten. Bob recalls that his father had his suspicions about how the investigation was being conducted right from the start. 'Dad realised early on that something sinister was going on with the Kenyan police investigation,' he says. 'It was obvious that someone very senior in the Kenyan regime had been taking a very close interest, and there was interference being orchestrated from a high level. They had thrown everything at proving she had committed suicide or been eaten by animals. But he could not understand why.' Only later, after being tipped off about Jonathan Moi, son of Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi, did this this baffling interference begin to make sense. Nor did it stop there. For today the Mail can also reveal mystery still surrounds what happened to Julie's Suzuki 'jeep'. It could have been a treasure trove of forensic evidence, having possibly been driven by her murderer. But that will never be known because after John Ward made arrangements for it to be shipped to the UK for forensic testing in 1990, he disclosed his plans to a Scotland Yard detective in confidence. Bob says: 'That jeep would have given us answers. But when the Met detective informed the Kenyan police of its whereabouts, they seized it. The next time it was seen, the vehicle had been broken up into parts and cleaned, so it was not possible to get any forensics from it.' Three months after the inquest, which had garnered worldwide headlines, the British foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd, asked Scotland Yard to assist the UK's ally with their investigation. 'Dad was thrilled to get the Yard on the case,' says Bob. 'But while we trusted the Met at first, there is now clear evidence that, right from the start, the last thing the British government really wanted was for them to actually solve the case – because it would have caused no end of diplomatic tension.' Indeed, John Ward was told by numerous British diplomats: 'Don't rock the boat'. It sounded to him like a strategy. And many years later, an investigation carried out by an independent police force vindicated many of his fears when it found the Met and the Foreign Office guilty of 'inconsistency, falsehoods and downright lies' – more of which later. It was in the early 1990s that suspicion turned to Jonathan Moi. Bob says: 'Rumours were growing. Over the years, all sorts of people came up to Dad in confidence and whispered Moi's name.' The evidence eventually pointed to the gruesome explanation that Moi and his drunken bodyguards had come across Julie when she stopped to photograph wildlife; that they kidnapped and repeatedly raped her over a few days - and that once her disappearance became national news, Moi ordered his henchmen to murder her and dispose of her body. Yet the Kenyans – and Scotland Yard - seemed keen to pin the murder on others, with two junior park rangers put on trial for Julie's murder in 1991. John Ward's own inquiries had already convinced him that they were not responsible: his evidence helped to secure their acquittal. Simon Ole Makallah, who was chief warden in the Masai Mara, at his murder trial in 1998, when he was acquitted. The Ward family hope one day he might talk about whatever he knows Suspicion then fell on chief warden Simon Ole Makallah, who had found Julie's remains in a far-flung spot in the Mara just minutes after starting to 'search'. But at his trial in 1999 he was found not guilty of her murder. All the while, gap-toothed Moi - whose father's 24-year presidency was marred by claims of human rights abuses and corruption – was never even arrested. Yet rumours about his involvement persisted, and in 1997, Moi issued a statement in which he claimed: 'Throughout the month of September 1988 I was at my farm at Eldama Ravine' – over 110 miles away from where Julie had died – adding: 'I would also state that I have never been at the Masai Mara game reserve.' Bob says: 'It was incredibly frustrating for Dad. He instinctively knew Moi was lying, but there was no way to prove it.' TRAVESTY TIMELINE 1988 Julie Ward, 28, is kidnapped, raped, hacked to bits by machete and her remains set on fire with petrol in Masai Mara. Kenyan police conclude she was 'eaten' by lions or hyenas. Pathologist says she was murdered but his report is swiftly doctored by Kenya's chief pathologist to suggest 'wild animals' to blame 1989 After Julie's devastated but determined businessman father John Ward investigates, his meticulous detective work forces Kenyan judge to conclude: 'The animals are innocent' 1997 Kenyan president's playboy son Jonathan Moi is rumoured to be involved – but denies 'ever being in Masai Mara' 2004 British inquest hears shocking conclusion from independent Lincolnshire Police chief constable about how Scotland Yard and Foreign Office colluded in 'inconsistency, contradictions, falsehoods and downright lies' – or what Julie's family called a cover-up. Even the Kenyans admitted 'deliberate obstruction' 2011 Scotland Yard is ordered to open new investigation and diligent Met officer tracks down credible witness - who makes bombshell claim: 'I definitely know that Jonathan Moi arrived that night as I greeted him and spoke with him.' Yard officer tells Wards: 'This will blow case wide open' 2019 Jonathan Moi dies of natural causes after living free life – thanks to his good connections 2020 Ward family finally obtain Yard's explosive witness statement that 'I definitely know Moi arrived that night' from Lewisham safe, and are outraged at cover-up letting Moi escape justive. Repeated questions go unanswered 2022 Frustrated Ward family lodge formal appeal alleging Yard still hushing up truth 2025 Yard says 'no new evidence' and it would be wrong to 'divert officers' to re-investigate such an old case. Bob says: 'The horse had long since bolted on the actual investigation - this was a complaint about the Met's shameful conduct, because Moi was a free man when he died.' Today, however, the Mail can reveal that in fact there was. For Moi's claims were flatly contradicted by a highly credible witness. This person's testimony was obtained in 2011 by a Scotland Yard detective sent to Kenya after the Met launched a fresh investigation into Julie's death in response to Mr Ward's tireless campaigning. The witness was a trusted official at a tourist camp, not far from where Julie vanished. Their identity is known to Bob, and to the Mail, but is not being made public to protect them. While Jonathan Moi and his father are dead, there are many fanatical supporters, including potential accomplices, who are not. Written in neat handwriting on a Metropolitan Police Witness Statement form, the testimony states unequivocally: 'I remember that Jonathan Moi and his party arrived [at the camp] very late... I definitely know that Jonathan Moi arrived at the site that night as I greeted him and spoke with him.' The next day, Moi's party mysteriously 'did not return to the camp' despite being expected to, and one of them returned days later with a 'very odd' story about getting lost, the witness stated. A further piece of evidence, a handwritten letter from the witness to a colleague, corroborates the date as being around the time when Julie disappeared. The statement should have been the breakthrough the Wards had long craved. Of the diligent Met officer, Detective Superintendent Phil Adams, who tracked down the witness and arranged their statement, Bob says: 'Phil was a very good police officer. He and his team did genuinely good police work. His exact words to my dad afterwards were: 'John, I think we've blown the case wide open'. The statement named four people who also met Moi on that night.' At the very least, the family believe, Moi should have been cautioned and quizzed by police about the glaring discrepancies in his claims. And yet once again the investigation went cold. As Bob says: 'Nothing ever happened and we could never get any answers about why.' It all begs the question: why was such an important piece of evidence, discovered by Scotland Yard itself, whose detective believed would crack the case, locked away in a safe in London for nine years? Bob Ward believes this is one of many pieces of a jigsaw that, when pieced together, presents a vivid picture of an orchestrated cover-up at the behest of a Foreign Office keen to preserve diplomatic good relations. Some 150,000 British tourists visit Kenya every year and the countries have both benefited from deep economic, political and military ties since the former colony gained independence in 1963. It would be hard to overstate the diplomatic fallout, had the president's son been charged with murdering a young British woman. Were the Kenyan authorities even informed about the Yard's game-changing new witness statement? Bob says: 'We were told by someone very trustworthy that they were not.' And in 2018, when Bob and his father met with senior Kenyan officials, 'they sat up in surprise when we said we knew of evidence Moi was there – staring at each other without saying a word. We never heard from them again.' Moi died a year later. Bob shrugs: 'The whole thing stinks. There was a chance to interview the chief suspect, and instead the key evidence was hidden away - and it looks deliberate and planned. 'Potentially, the man who had Julie killed was allowed to spend the last years of his life in complete freedom, thanks to being protected by the British police on the instruction of the British government.' The suggestion of collusion between the Met, the Foreign Office and the Kenyans is an intrinsic part of this case. By the time of the British inquest, in 2004, the Moi regime had been replaced and a statement from a diplomat with the new government admitted there had been 'evidence of deliberate obstruction of [John Ward's] inquiries by some officials in the previous regime'. This confession was particularly stinging for the Met because it spectacularly undermined a report written by one of the Yard's senior officers in 1990, which had concluded there was no cover-up. The coroner himself remarked that Mr Ward had faced 'a mounting wall of official obstruction and ludicrous misinformation'. Then there was the independent inquiry into the handling of the case that was conducted by Lincolnshire Police in the early 2000s which contained damning criticisms of Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office. It concluded: 'There is clear evidence of inconsistency and contradictions, falsehoods and downright lies, and it is this that has, not surprisingly, inexorably led to John Ward believing there was an active conspiracy to prevent him identifying his daughter's killers.' The Lincolnshire report itself was not made public until 2008, when Mr Ward obtained it under freedom of information laws. Even then large sections were swathed in a censor's black ink. But it was through the Lincolnshire Police report they discovered a statement which John Ward had made to his local police force had been altered by Scotland Yard to water-down criticism of Kenyan police. 'And 10 pages were missing,' Bob adds, claiming that a Met reference number added to the statement 'proves it was altered by the Metropolitan Police'. After Moi died in 2019, the Wards made renewed efforts to obtain the statement exposing his lies. Bob says: 'Finally, after years of negotiating with the Met, they gave us access. It was in 2020, during Covid. We were really stunned when they finally handed over the statement and we read it. Here was all the evidence they had needed to haul in Moi and challenge him, but they had just left it in this safe in London all that time.' Not only this but a register signed by guests at the Masai Mara camp – including Moi's signature, according to one witness – that was also supposedly held in the Lewisham safe had gone missing. Bob says wearily: 'We are very used to things 'disappearing'.' Bob Ward, 61, accuses Scotland Yard of colluding with the Foreign Office and the Kenyan authorities to keep the circumstances of his sister's death hushed up John Ward in happier times. After Julie's disappearance in 1988, when he was 55, the businessman devoted the rest of his life to hunting her killer Julie Ward duing her adventurous trip to Africa, which her father John worried about but wanted her to embrace life John Ward who, on a lesser scale to his wife Jan who struggled with the awful nature of Julie's death, was a meticulous 'details man' who just wanted to get to the truth no matter how painful Seen here on their wedding day in 1958, Julie's parents John and Jan enjoyed an extraordinary long marriage. Julie's murder would have broken most families. Their's was a mighty family Jan and John Ward managed to keep their family together despite the hideous circumstances of their daughter Julie's murder. John's lifelong commitment to justice didn't stop him vowing life must go on A family photo of the family of Julie Ward. Her younger brothers grew up and got married, and the entire clan remain a tight-knit unit bound by love In 2022, the family lodged a formal complaint with the Metropolitan Police alleging corruption, collusion and perverting the course of justice by officers of the Met 'to avoid bringing the main suspect for Julie's murder to justice'. The complaint process rumbled on for more than two years. Since John Ward's death, everything has been overseen by Bob. HQ is now an office he calls 'The Shed' near his home in Suffolk. Today he holds up one of the letters he received just a few weeks ago from a DCI at the Yard's Directorate of Professional Standards. The Met's perfunctory response to the family's complaint was to claim there was 'no new evidence' and it would be wrong to 'divert officers' to re-investigate such an old case. It acknowledged the Met's early investigations were 'completed with haste' but claimed the Lincolnshire Police report had found 'no evidence of conspiracy'. And what of the Wards' complaint about the bombshell statement being left in a safe? On this crucial question, the Yard was silent. Bob says: 'We replied that the horse had long since bolted on the actual investigation - this was a complaint about the Met's shameful conduct, because Moi was a free man when he died in 2019. They told us to appeal to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which we have.' Despite the passage of time, and the death of the prime suspect, Bob says there are still plenty of people alive in Kenya today who know the truth. In particular, he'd like to talk to former head ranger Simon Ole Makallah. Simon Ole Makallah, right, being brought to court in Nairobi in March 1999. He was cleared of Julie's murder. The Ward family still want him to say what he knows, given he was able to find Julie's remains in a remote location within a few minutes Bob Ward: 'My father devoted his life to solving this wretched mystery. He filed everything meticulously. Me and Tim are now the custodians of his files. And we will honour our father' Bob Ward says: 'Our political relationship with Kenya, which is very strong, a Commonwealth country, lots of army bases, shared police training, and of course access to the Middle East which is vital to the British government…I fully expect that and understand it. Is it more important than a British girl getting murdered? To us, obviously not' While he was cleared of Julie's murder, the Wards have always believed he might know what really happened. For the moment he remains silent – but Bob still hopes that, as with the British authorities, he'll talk one day. Like his father, he won't give up. Scotland Yard said: 'In 2018 we exhausted all lines of inquiry and suspended the investigation into the murder of Julie Ward. This decision was not taken lightly and our thoughts remain with Julie's family, who were updated accordingly. 'We have been clear that detectives would consider any new information provided to them to determine whether it represented a new and significant line of inquiry.' The Foreign Office said: 'We reaffirm our sympathy for Julie Ward's family and will continue to offer them any help and advice we can. We deeply regret that nobody has been brought to justice. The Foreign Office has always absolutely refuted any allegations of a cover-up in this historic case.'
Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Telegraph
Former president's son implicated in safari murder of British woman
The son of the former Kenyan president has been implicated in the murder of a young British woman in newly unearthed evidence. Julie Ward was butchered in the Maasai Mara game reserve in September 1988 aged 28. Most of her body was burned, but part of her left leg, pieces of her jaw and her skull were found intact. Whilst officials initially tried to suggest that she had died by suicide, been eaten by animals or even struck by lightning, it quickly became clear she had been murdered. She became a cause célèbre as her millionaire father relentlessly pursued her killers, but the exact circumstances of Julie's death have never been solved. Now, for the first time, her family has revealed evidence in the case that shows the Metropolitan Police spoke to a witness in 2011 who offered a major breakthrough. The witness gave an account of events that puts Jonathan Moi, son of Daniel Arap Moi, the former Kenyan president, in the frame for the murder. This newly unearthed statement represented a significant advance in the murder investigation and reignited the Ward family's hopes that Julie's killer might face justice. They have spent more than three decades trying to solve Julie's murder, and say that this is the strongest evidence yet that puts Mr Moi in the area where the crime was committed at the time. However, in a move that has been heavily criticised by the family, the Met kept the statement hidden without fully investigating the claims. The Ward family believes that this is because of a cover-up orchestrated by the Foreign Office (FCDO) and involving the Met, to preserve good relations with Kenya. At the time of Julie's death, Kenya was one of Britain's key defence allies in Africa. Whilst a cover-up by Britain has never been established, The Telegraph can disclose that the evidence was kept out of the public domain, with documents stating the key witness statements were reserved strictly for the use of British police. This was because of the potential risk of reprisals if the contents were 'divulged to the wrong person or at the wrong time'. As a result, it remained under lock and key in a London police facility and was only shared with the Wards after Mr Moi's death from pancreatic cancer in 2019. The witness statement was made by a former official at a safari camp in the Masai Mara where Julie was found dead. The witness said that Mr Moi stayed with them at around the time Julie was missing, contradicting his previous evidence to police that he had been nowhere near the scene of the crime. The family are making the revelation public now because they have tried and failed to bring a complaint against the Metropolitan Police for its alleged failures. Julie's brother Bob Ward told The Telegraph it is 'unthinkable that those statements with such vital information have been locked away in a safe in Lewisham for all of these years', and that the chance to achieve justice for Julie may now have been missed. According to the testimony from the camp official, Mr Moi and a small party contacted the camp to make a booking in September 1988, around the time that Julie first went missing. The group allegedly arrived late one evening and left unexpectedly the next morning in a way that 'did not make sense' to the camp worker. The disclosure is significant because Mr Moi had previously denied rumours of his involvement in Julie's murder, or being anywhere near the area. He told Kenyan police in 1997 that he had been at one of his farms, more than 150 miles away from the Masai Mara, 'throughout' that September when Julie died. He also said that he had 'never been at the Masai Mara game reserve'. The Ward family has long suspected that Mr Moi was involved in Julie's death, but before the camp official's statement it was only based on rumour and evidence from someone who was himself an admitted killer. Former Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Adams, whose operation in Kenya obtained the statement, said the camp official's account was 'finally something tangible and factual which put Mr Moi in the vicinity of Julie's murder, and supported a theory that he and his cronies were responsible'. He added that his personal view 'is that Jonathan Moi did go out that night… and he's taken advantage of her [Julie]. I think he's either responsible for her death or, having taken advantage of her, he's got people to dispose of the body'. The Met confirmed in a recent letter to the Ward family that in 2018, when the most recent investigation into Julie's murder was made 'inactive', Mr Moi was the 'one remaining person of interest'. By that point, the Met had been in possession of the camp official's statement for seven years. The Ward family did not obtain the statement until 2020, and they have now shared it with the Telegraph. But the Wards claim that too little was done to interrogate the information in the statement whilst Mr Moi was still alive. Mr Adams told the Telegraph that they were unable to investigate as normal, because they had told the witness they would not pass the information to the Kenyan police – but at the same time, the terms of the Met's engagement in Kenya meant that the Kenyan police had to approve all their plans. '[We said] we'll keep it under lock and key there until you are comfortable with us using it openly in an investigation, and that's how I left it when I retired,' Mr Adams said. He added that his officers wanted to obtain a DNA sample from Mr Moi to compare against evidence, but that in the end, they did not make the request to the Kenyan police because they feared they would have to explain why and that this would expose their informant. Mr Adams was not in a position to disclose the statements after his retirement, but it is believed that the Met did not share them with the Kenyan Police. The early investigations Julie Ward's murder was one of the most notorious unsolved mysteries of the late eighties, comparable to the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh in terms of the way it captured the public imagination. That was largely down to John Ward, Julie's father, who spent more than £2m of the fortune he amassed as a hotelier trying to bring her killers to justice. In his search for answers, he exposed a litany of failures by authorities in Kenya, who initially appeared reluctant to acknowledge there had been a murder at all. The first pathologist to inspect Julie's remains said in his draft report that her bones were 'clean cut', implying that she had been cut with an implement. However, Kenya's most senior pathologist, Dr Jason Kaviti, altered the document before it could be given to the Ward family so that it said her bones were cracked and torn. This suggested wild animals were to blame instead. The amendment made Mr Ward suspicious, and – with his trust in the authorities shaken - he took it upon himself to investigate his daughter's murder. He was relentless, and over the following years and decades, he helped to ensure that there was a second inquest in Suffolk, and investigations by four different police forces. There were also two murder trials of three different people, including the then head warden at the Masai Mara game reserve, but all the suspects were acquitted. In 2004, the government that succeeded president Moi admitted that there was a potential cover-up. The new justice minister, Kiraitu Murungi, said that Mr Ward's investigations did not get an 'adequate response from the Kenyan authorities at the time', and that there 'appears to be some prima facie evidence of deliberate obstruction' by some officials. What has perhaps been more surprising is the battles that the Ward family have faced with authorities in Britain. In the days after Julie's death, John Ward was invited to a meeting with two men at the British High Commission. One of the men attempted to persuade him that Julie had been struck by lightning and eaten by hyenas. It later emerged that this man was an MI6 informant and the other man an MI6 agent. Some time later, in 1990, Scotland Yard officers were brought in to look at Julie's death. Their enquiries led to the arrest of two rangers who stood trial for murder in 1992 but were acquitted. The Ward family now believes that the Met deliberately bungled their investigations in the 90s in an attempt 'to pervert the course of justice'. The relatives have spent the last two years pursuing a formal complaint against the Met Police in the hope that they would persuade the force to acknowledge its failures and reopen parts of the investigation. In a letter handed to the police and seen by The Telegraph, they said: 'Justice has not been served to the Ward family, let alone Julie. Our family have been seriously let down by the Metropolitan Police force of past years. 'We believe, due to the actions of the Metropolitan Police Service officers, a murderer remained free until his dying day and justice was not served for Julie or the Ward family. This is unacceptable to us.' The Wards added: 'We strongly believe these actions were orders or instructions from higher up the chain of command, namely the FCDO.' The Metropolitan Police have declined to reinvestigate the Wards' allegations that its officers participated in a cover-up, saying that they have previously been cleared and that its resources should be used elsewhere. A Met spokesman told The Telegraph that it had suspended the investigation in 2018 because it had exhausted all lines of enquiry. 'This decision was not taken lightly and our thoughts remain with Julie's family, who were updated accordingly. 'We have been clear that detectives would consider any new information provided to them to determine whether it represented a new and significant line of enquiry.' A Government spokesman expressed sympathy for the Ward family and said that they 'deeply regret' the fact that nobody has been brought to justice in the case. 'The Foreign Office has always absolutely refuted any allegations of a cover-up in this historic case,' they added. As part of their complaint, the Wards handed over a dossier of evidence of what they perceive as multiple failures over the years to probe Julie's death properly. They strongly criticised former Detective Chief Superintendent Ken Thompson for his failure to visit the site of Julie's remains during a four-day scoping exercise in Kenya in 1990. Mr Thompson said in his report that he had been unable to go because of ground conditions. They also questioned why Mr Thompson directed Kenyan police to Julie's jeep, without ensuring a forensic examination himself, and believe that he did so in the knowledge that it might hold valuable evidence. When other Met officers went to Kenya later that year, the jeep had been dismantled and potential forensic evidence lost. Mr Thompson has since died, but at an inquest in 2004, he strongly defended the robustness of his work. The Wards also criticised the detectives who took over from Mr Thompson, citing a 2004 independent investigation by Lincolnshire Police. It said 'the New Scotland Yard investigation into the murder of Julie Ward was poorly led, under-resourced and incompetent', that 'significant lines of enquiry were ignored' and 'forensic opportunities were missed'. Despite these criticisms, the independent investigation found there was 'insufficient evidence to support the allegation of a cover-up'. Former Detective Chief Superintendent Graham Searle, who was the senior investigating officer on the ground in 1990, told the Telegraph: 'Under the circumstances, we did the very best job we possibly could. And I stress that under the circumstances. It wasn't the easiest place to work.' His deputy, David Shipperlee, added that allegations of a Met cover-up were 'utter nonsense' and that he doesn't believe the investigation was 'incompetent'. The independent investigation was not able to get to the bottom of another disturbing finding: that a witness statement made by John Ward was altered to water down his criticism of the Kenyan authorities. The Wards believe it was done at the behest of the FCDO to preserve good relationships with the Kenyans. At the time of Julie's death, Margaret Thatcher's Britain donated considerable sums of foreign aid to Kenya. Kenya also hosted - and continues to host - a huge training ground used to train British Army personnel. The British Army Training Unit Kenya, 200 miles north of Nairobi, is large enough to train whole battalions and was used to ready personnel for the Falklands War. The Wards believe that it would have been profoundly damaging to Britain's relationship with Kenya if the son of its president had been implicated in Julie's murder. They also firmly believe that Jonathan Moi was directly or indirectly responsible for her death, although this remains unproven. In their complaint to the Met, they have accused the force of making deliberate mistakes because it suited Britain 'to help a political ally hide a murderer'. The first time Mr Ward heard Jonathan Moi's name in connection with Julie's death was soon after her body was found, when a clothes seller in the Masai Mara pressed a note into Mr Ward's hand. It bore the words: 'The man you are looking for is Jonathan Moi Toroitich' [his Kenyan name]. Some years later, he heard Mr Moi's name again from a man called Valentine Uhuru Kodipo, who secured asylum in Denmark on the basis that he had been part of a paramilitary unit. He alleged he had witnessed several atrocities, including Julie being tortured and bludgeoned to death with a club. Mr Kodipo claimed Mr Moi was present, along with two other senior political figures in Kenya: Nicholas Biwott, a former cabinet minister, and Noah Arap Too, who was director of the then criminal investigation department. Mr Arap Too has previously said he was in London at the critical time. All three men are now dead, as is Mr Kodipo. Mr Kodipo's testimony emerged in 1993, and his asylum claim was approved, suggesting that at least some of his outlandish claims may have been seen as credible in some quarters. However, questions have been raised about the reliability of his evidence, including by a member of the unit who said there was no record of Mr Kodipo. Mr Ward also believed he caught him in a lie and at one point dismissed him as a 'fantasist' whose story was 'nothing more than a brilliantly constructed pack of lies'. Jonathan Moi responded to Mr Kodipo's testimony with a statement claiming that he was not in the Masai Mara at the time of Julie's death. 'Throughout the months of September 1988, I was at my farm in Eldama Ravine [more than 150 miles north of the Masai Mara]. I have a farm at Narok [a town relatively close to the Masai Mara], and on that alleged date of September 6, I was at my farm in Eldama Ravine. I would also state that I have never been at the Masai Mara Game Reserve, but at my farm in Narok,' he said. He added that he had 'nothing to do with…the disappearance of the late Julie Ward.' The newly emerged witness statement from the former camp official offered a potential way to disprove Mr Moi's alibi. In a handwritten statement, the former camp official claimed that they had personally greeted Mr Moi when they arrived at around 10pm shortly after September 11 1988. Julie's remains were found on September 13, a week after she first disappeared. A post-mortem has suggested that she spent most of this missing week alive. Mr Moi's party allegedly left the next morning and never returned, which the camp official found 'unusual', the witness statement shows. One member of the party allegedly came back with an explanation a day or two later, claiming that they had got lost on their way to visit another one of Mr Moi's farms far away – but the former camp worker said they found this reason 'very odd'. '[I] could not understand why they would have gone to [that farm] as it was on completely the opposite side of the Mara to our camp. It did not make sense for them to have booked our site,' the witness said. Another source linked to the same camp also gave a statement, which can only be disclosed now, and provided letters from the first camp official, which corroborate some of the minor details. For the Wards, these newly emerged documents shed some light on what may have happened to Julie. But the family is also frustrated that they have faced such a battle to get this far – and that the man they believe is responsible for her death will never face justice. Listen to a special episode of the Daily T podcast about the murder of Julie Ward and her family's fight for justice on the audio player in this article. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE She was brutally murdered on a dream safari trip - now bombshell evidence 'finally proves the shocking truth about who Julie Ward's killer really was'
Bombshell new evidence in the murder of Julie Ward in Kenya was locked in a safe by Scotland Yard – allowing her suspected killer to escape justice, her family allege today. The then Kenyan President's playboy son Jonathan Moi should have been arrested after the explosive new testimony against him. But thanks to an alleged cover-up involving the Yard, the Foreign Office and the Kenyan authorities, he lived as a free man for the rest of his life. Julie's father John Ward spent 35 years – the rest of his days – on a relentless quest to establish the truth about the brutal death of his beloved only daughter in 1988. The businessman dedicated his life, as perhaps only a father could, to finding her killer and bringing them to justice. He spent £2million and made almost 200 trips to Africa, with the evidence he doggedly amassed pointing to one sinister conclusion – that she had been kidnapped, raped and then murdered on the orders of Jonathan Moi, the dissolute son of the then Kenyan president. Instead of justice, over the years Mr Ward faced lies, obfuscation, cover-ups, corruption, tampering of statements and destruction of evidence. Moi was never properly investigated, let alone brought to trial. Perhaps most shocking of all is the alleged collusion of the British government and Scotland Yard in the international cover-up. The riddle of Julie's death remains unresolved. Yet today the Mail can reveal perhaps the most significant development in the mystery so far: a bombshell witness statement that places Moi near the scene of the crime, suggesting he had blatantly lied about his location at the time of Julie's disappearance. According to the police officer who obtained it, it would 'blow the case wide open'. Yet while the damning statement was obtained in 2011, inexplicably the dramatic breakthrough was never pursued and the prime suspect lived as a free man until he died of cancer just six years ago. Meanwhile this key piece of evidence was left to rot, not in Kenya but locked up in a Metropolitan Police safe in Lewisham, south London for nine years. Inevitably, this reinforces the Ward family's well-grounded suspicions that the circumstances of Julie's murder were shamefully suppressed in order to maintain good diplomatic relations between Britain and Kenya. And even today, nearly 40 years after the murder that shocked the nation, Julie's family believe Scotland Yard is still – at the behest of the Foreign Office - trying to hush up the truth. They have lodged a formal complaint with the Met seeking answers. As Bob Ward, Julie's younger brother, asks: 'Why was this vital piece of evidence left under lock and key for so long? Their failure to act on it – and indeed to bury it – conveniently until after the prime suspect had died is as scandalous as it is upsetting. It's a real betrayal of justice.' John, I think we've blown the case wide open Scotland Yard detective to John Ward It is Bob, 61, who is now spearheading the quest for truth. John Ward died in 2023 shortly before turning 90 – just two weeks after Julie's mother Janette passed away at the same age – with their mission incomplete. But it did not die with them, as Bob and Julie's other brother Tim have taken up the mantle. 'Julie was a really gentle, sweet, softly spoken, kind, generous, loving soul. And she deserves justice, as do Mum and Dad,' Bob says. 'It's indisputable there have been lies. We are as determined as ever to get to the truth.' Animal lover Julie had been on a six-month safari trip-of-a-lifetime to photograph wildlife when she disappeared in 1988. The last reported sighting of the beautiful 28-year-old was at the Sand River Campsite in the Masai Mara game reserve on September 6. Four days later, Mr and Mrs Ward endured the phonecall every parent dreads. Julie, who had been due to fly home to Britain within days, had gone missing. Within hours John, then 55 and who had never been to Africa, had booked a plane to Kenya to set up his own search for his missing daughter. He organised five aircraft, with spotters, to conduct a grid search of the area where Julie was last seen and found her jeep in a gully, away from any tracks. Her remains were later discovered in a remote spot, some 10 miles from her abandoned vehicle. It was Mr Ward who had the devastating experience of picking up all that was left of his daughter, a jaw and lower left leg, both burned. In the early days, overwhelmed by waves of grief yet determined to hunt down the perpetrator, Mr Ward was perplexed by the authorities' bizarre theories. A police pathologist originally said Julie had been murdered, but then his report was blatantly doctored by Kenya's chief pathologist. The conclusion 'sharp clean cuts' with a heavy blade was changed to blunt 'torn' injuries that could have been caused by wild animals. Mr Ward was told variously by Kenyan police that his daughter had been: mauled by lions, struck by lightning or even taken her own life. Refusing to accept these preposterous theories, over the months that followed, he commissioned 10 forensic reports, including two from Home Office-approved pathologists in Britain. These found that his daughter had been murdered, hacked up, soaked in petrol and set on fire. The sheer weight of his dossier of evidence presented to Julie's inquest in Kenya in 1989 gave the judge no option but to conclude she was murdered rather than eaten. Bob recalls that his father had his suspicions about how the investigation was being conducted right from the start. 'Dad realised early on that something sinister was going on with the Kenyan police investigation,' he says. 'It was obvious that someone very senior in the Kenyan regime had been taking a very close interest, and there was interference being orchestrated from a high level. They had thrown everything at proving she had committed suicide or been eaten by animals. But he could not understand why.' Only later, after being tipped off about Jonathan Moi, son of Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi, did this this baffling interference begin to make sense. Nor did it stop there. For today the Mail can also reveal mystery still surrounds what happened to Julie's Suzuki 'jeep'. It could have been a treasure trove of forensic evidence, having possibly been driven by her murderer. But that will never be known because after John Ward made arrangements for it to be shipped to the UK for forensic testing in 1990, he disclosed his plans to a Scotland Yard detective in confidence. Bob says: 'That jeep would have given us answers. But when the Met detective informed the Kenyan police of its whereabouts, they seized it. The next time it was seen, the vehicle had been broken up into parts and cleaned, so it was not possible to get any forensics from it.' Julie Ward during her six-month trip-of-a-lifetime to explore Africa before her father endured the phonecall every parent dreads in September 1988 when he were told she was missing Tim, Julie and Bob Ward in their younger days: now the two brothers are continuing their father's mission to force answers from Scotland Yard, the Foreign Office and the Kenyan police Three months after the inquest, which had garnered worldwide headlines, the British foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd, asked Scotland Yard to assist the UK's ally with their investigation. 'Dad was thrilled to get the Yard on the case,' says Bob. 'But while we trusted the Met at first, there is now clear evidence that, right from the start, the last thing the British government really wanted was for them to actually solve the case – because it would have caused no end of diplomatic tension.' Indeed, John Ward recorded a conversation soon after Julie's murder in which he was advised by a civil servant from the Foreign Office 'not to rock the boat' and to 'leave it to the Kenyans'. And many years later, an investigation carried out by an independent police force vindicated many of his fears when it found the Met and the Foreign Office guilty of 'inconsistency, falsehoods and downright lies' – more of which later. It was in the early 1990s that suspicion turned to Jonathan Moi. Bob says: 'Rumours were growing. Over the years, all sorts of people came up to Dad in confidence and whispered Moi's name.' The evidence eventually pointed to the gruesome explanation that Moi and his drunken bodyguards had come across Julie when she stopped to photograph wildlife; that they kidnapped and repeatedly raped her over a few days - and that once her disappearance became national news, Moi ordered his henchmen to murder her and dispose of her body. Yet the Kenyans – and Scotland Yard - seemed keen to pin the murder on others, with two junior park rangers put on trial for Julie's murder in 1991. John Ward's own inquiries had already convinced him that they were not responsible: his evidence helped to secure their acquittal. Almost every family photograph of Julie features her with a dog or other animal. She was besotted with wildlife, a trait she shared with her mother Jan The Ward family had pet dogs which were never far from Julie's side throughout her childhood in Suffolk Simon Ole Makallah, who was chief warden in the Masai Mara, at his murder trial in 1998, when he was acquitted. The Ward family hope one day he might talk about whatever he knows Suspicion then fell on chief warden Simon Ole Makallah, who had found Julie's remains in a far-flung spot in the Mara just minutes after starting to 'search'. But at his trial in 1999 he was found not guilty of her murder. All the while, gap-toothed Moi - whose father's 24-year presidency was marred by claims of human rights abuses and corruption – was never even arrested. Yet rumours about his involvement persisted, and in 1997, Moi issued a statement in which he claimed: 'Throughout the month of September 1988 I was at my farm at Eldama Ravine' – over 110 miles away from where Julie had died – adding: 'I would also state that I have never been at the Masai Mara game reserve.' Bob says: 'It was incredibly frustrating for Dad. He instinctively knew Moi was lying, but there was no way to prove it.' Today, however, the Mail can reveal that in fact there was. For Moi's claims were flatly contradicted by a highly credible witness. This person's testimony was obtained in 2011 by a Scotland Yard detective sent to Kenya after the Met launched a fresh investigation into Julie's death in response to Mr Ward's tireless campaigning. The witness was a trusted official at a tourist camp, not far from where Julie vanished. Their identity is known to Bob, and to the Mail, but is not being made public to protect them. While Jonathan Moi and his father are dead, there are many fanatical supporters, including potential accomplices, who are not. Written in neat handwriting on a Metropolitan Police Witness Statement form, the testimony states unequivocally: 'I remember that Jonathan Moi and his party arrived [at the camp] very late... I definitely know that Jonathan Moi arrived at the site that night as I greeted him and spoke with him.' The next day, Moi's party mysteriously 'did not return to the camp' despite being expected to, and one of them returned days later with a 'very odd' story about getting lost, the witness stated. A further piece of evidence, a handwritten letter from the witness to a colleague, corroborates the date as being around the time when Julie disappeared. The statement should have been the breakthrough the Wards had long craved. Of the Met officer, Detective Superintendent Phil Adams, who tracked down the witness and arranged their statement, Bob says: 'Phil was a very good police officer. He and his team did genuinely good police work. His exact words to my dad afterwards were: 'John, I think we've blown the case wide open'. The statement named four people who also met Moi on that night.' At the very least, the family believe, Moi should have been cautioned and quizzed by police about the glaring discrepancies in his claims. And yet once again the investigation went cold. As Bob says: 'Nothing ever happened and we could never get any answers about why.' It all begs the question: why was such an important piece of evidence, discovered by Scotland Yard itself, whose detective believed would crack the case, locked away in a safe in London for nine years? Bob Ward believes this is one of many pieces of a jigsaw that, when pieced together, presents a vivid picture of an orchestrated cover-up at the behest of a Foreign Office keen to preserve diplomatic good relations. Some 150,000 British tourists visit Kenya every year and the countries have both benefited from deep economic, political and military ties since the former colony gained independence in 1963. It would be hard to overstate the diplomatic fallout, had the president's son been charged with murdering a young British woman. Bob Ward in 2018 in the Masai Mara during a trip with his father to search for more evidence in Julie's murder Were the Kenyan authorities even informed about the Yard's game-changing new witness statement? Bob says: 'We were told by someone very trustworthy that they were not.' And in 2018, when Bob and his father met with senior Kenyan officials, 'they sat up in surprise when we said we knew of evidence Moi was there – staring at each other without saying a word. We never heard from them again.' Moi died a year later. Bob shrugs: 'The whole thing stinks. There was a chance to interview the chief suspect, and instead the key evidence was hidden away - and it looks deliberate and planned. 'Potentially, the man who had Julie killed was allowed to spend the last years of his life in complete freedom, thanks to being protected by the British police on the instruction of the British government.' The suggestion of collusion between the Met, the Foreign Office and the Kenyans is an intrinsic part of this case. By the time of the British inquest, in 2004, the Moi regime had been replaced and a statement from a diplomat with the new government admitted there had been 'evidence of deliberate obstruction of [John Ward's] inquiries by some officials in the previous regime'. This confession was particularly stinging for the Met because it spectacularly undermined a report written by one of the Yard's senior officers in 1990, which had concluded there was no cover-up. The coroner himself remarked that Mr Ward had faced 'a mounting wall of official obstruction and ludicrous misinformation'. Then there was the independent inquiry into the handling of the case that was conducted by Lincolnshire Police in the early 2000s which contained damning criticisms of Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office. It concluded: 'There is clear evidence of inconsistency and contradictions, falsehoods and downright lies, and it is this that has, not surprisingly, inexorably led to John Ward believing there was an active conspiracy to prevent him identifying his daughter's killers.' The Lincolnshire report itself was not made public until 2008, when Mr Ward obtained it under freedom of information laws. Even then large sections were swathed in a censor's black ink. But it was through the Lincolnshire Police report they discovered a statement which John Ward had made to his local police force had been altered by Scotland Yard to water-down criticism of Kenyan police. 'And 10 pages were missing,' Bob adds, claiming that a Met reference number added to the statement 'proves it was altered by the Metropolitan Police'. After Moi died in 2019, the Wards made renewed efforts to obtain the statement exposing his lies. Bob says: 'Finally, after years of negotiating with the Met, they gave us access. It was in 2020, during Covid. We were really stunned when they finally handed over the statement and we read it. Here was all the evidence they had needed to haul in Moi and challenge him, but they had just left it in this safe in London all that time.' Not only this but a register signed by guests at the Masai Mara camp – including Moi's signature, according to one witness – that was also supposedly held in the Lewisham safe had gone missing. Bob says wearily: 'We are very used to things 'disappearing'.' This is 'The Place', the name Julie's family have given to the grim and remote location where her father made the devastating discovery of all that remained of her: a jaw and lower left leg John Ward in happier times. After Julie's disappearance in 1988, when he was 55, the businessman devoted the rest of his life to hunting her killer In 2022, the family lodged a formal complaint with the Metropolitan Police alleging corruption, collusion and perverting the course of justice by officers of the Met 'to avoid bringing the main suspect for Julie's murder to justice'. The complaint process rumbled on for more than two years. Since John Ward's death, everything has been overseen by Bob. HQ is now an office he calls 'The Shed' near his home in Suffolk. Today he holds up one of the letters he received just a few weeks ago from a DCI at the Yard's Directorate of Professional Standards. The Met's perfunctory response to the family's complaint was to claim there was 'no new evidence' and it would be wrong to 'divert officers' to re-investigate such an old case. It acknowledged the Met's early investigations were 'completed with haste' but claimed the Lincolnshire Police report had found 'no evidence of conspiracy'. And what of the Wards' complaint about the bombshell statement being left in a safe? On this crucial question, the Yard was silent. Bob says: 'We replied that the horse had long since bolted on the actual investigation - this was a complaint about the Met's shameful conduct, because Moi was a free man when he died in 2019. They told us to appeal to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which we have.' Despite the passage of time, and the death of the prime suspect, Bob says there are still plenty of people alive in Kenya today who know the truth. In particular, he'd like to talk to former head ranger Simon Ole Makallah. While he was cleared of Julie's murder, the Wards have always believed he might know what really happened. For the moment he remains silent – but Bob still hopes that, as with the British authorities, he'll talk one day. Like his father, he won't give up. Scotland Yard said: 'In 2018 we exhausted all lines of inquiry and suspended the investigation into the murder of Julie Ward. This decision was not taken lightly and our thoughts remain with Julie's family, who were updated accordingly. 'We have been clear that detectives would consider any new information provided to them to determine whether it represented a new and significant line of inquiry.'
