A NEW sixth form building has been named after a former Newnham pupil who was murdered almost 25 years ago.

The parents of language student, Joanna Parrish, have been invited to attend Ribston Hall High School, in Gloucester, for its opening ceremony today (Wednesday).

Her father Roger said: "We received a phone call about a month ago from the headteacher asking if we were happy for them to name the building after Joanna and we were very moved by this. It's a marvellous memorial and tribute to her.

"Jo had many happy times at the school and was deputy head girl in her last year. We are very grateful."

Miss Parrish was aged 20 when she was murdered in the Burgundy region of France while working at a local French school as part of her degree course in 1990.

The Leeds University undergraduate, who was studying French, disappeared after placing an advertisement in a local Burgundy newspaper offering private English lessons and arranged to meet a man who it is believed contacted her with details of a potential student. Her body was found in the Yonne River at Auxerre on May 17, 1990. A major suspect in the case was Michel Fourniret, a convicted serial killer known as 'The Beast of Ardennes,' who detectives suspected because the murder had similarities to crimes he was convicted of in 2008. Fourniret's wife, Monique Olivier, also gave police several statements linking him to Joanna Parrish's death, but she later withdrew the allegations, claiming they had been made under duress. The case was closed in 2011, but re-opened the following year after the emergence of fresh evidence.

In June 2012, a former girlfriend of the individual, known as TV, told police of an evening on which she recalled seeing TV return home 'with scratch marks on his face' and 'a jean bag looking similar to Miss Parrish's.' But it was not clear whether the incident occurred on the same date as the murder. The new inquiries would look at this evidence, as well as re-examine evidence collected against Fourniret in the original investigation.

The crime remains unsolved to the present day.