When Julie Ward vanishes mysteriously in the Masai Mara in 1988, her father begins a hunt for answers that stretches from a safari lodge in Kenya to MI6’s headquarters in London.
Nearly four decades on, The Telegraph Deputy Investigations Editor Katherine Rushton pours over classified documents, interviews the people tangled in the case, and travels to Kenya to try to understand who tried to stop her murder being solved.
What happened to Julie Ward, why did the Kenyan authorities try to cover it up, and why were MI6 agents involved?
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John’s investigation keeps coming up against brick walls - and five decades on, so does Katherine’s. When Kenya admits to a cover-up it begins to make sense. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Who exactly were the authorities covering up for, and was the British government involved? As her reporting comes to a close, Katherine celebrates a young woman whose life was cut short; and at the eleventh hour, a chat with a Mi6 agent sheds new light on Julie’s case.
Archive in this episode: ITN via Getty, The Telegraph
Get in touch: juliewardcase@telegraph.co.uk
Watch the accompanying film to this series: https://youtu.be/T8VhCxyx3O0
Sign up to the Telegraph: https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara (https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara)
Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor (https://open.acast.com/networks/65719504ffda880012bd81a4/shows/6580123a3c61a30018545a14/episodes/telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor)
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11 Aug 2026
The President's Son | Episode 4
A whistleblower comes forward claiming to have witnessed everything and pointing the finger at someone nobody expected: Jonathan Moi, the president’s son. It's almost too far-fetched to be believed, but his name starts coming up again, and again. An incriminating scrap of paper. A police statement locked up for decades. Rumours of a romance. Katherine investigates the evidence.
Archive in this episode: ITN via Getty, Channels Television, Citizen TV Kenya, NTV Kenya, KTN News Kenya
Get in touch: juliewardcase@telegraph.co.uk
Watch the accompanying film to this series: https://youtu.be/T8VhCxyx3O0
Sign up to the Telegraph: https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara (https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara)
Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor (https://open.acast.com/networks/65719504ffda880012bd81a4/shows/6580123a3c61a30018545a14/episodes/telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor)
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11 Aug 2026
The Search Party | Episode 3
With Julie’s murderer still at large, attention focuses on the last man to see her alive and the head ranger of the Masai Mara game reserve. Reporter Katherine goes to Kenya herself to track them down and see if their recollections can help unlock the decades-old cold case. A previously unknown tip from a Masai elder emerges. Could this be the breakthrough the Ward family has been waiting for?
Archive in this episode: ITN via Getty, The Telegraph
Get in touch: juliewardcase@telegraph.co.uk
Watch the accompanying film to this series: https://youtu.be/T8VhCxyx3O0
Sign up to the Telegraph: https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara (https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara)
Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor (https://open.acast.com/networks/65719504ffda880012bd81a4/shows/6580123a3c61a30018545a14/episodes/telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor)
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11 Aug 2026
Go Home | Episode 2
The authorities insist Julie killed herself, but father John refuses to believe it. An altered post-mortem prompts him to take matters into his own hands. When a team of British cops is dispatched to Kenya, hopes are high that they can solve the riddle of Julie’s murder/death. How did her jeep end up nine miles from her body? What are those strange marks on her leg? And who forged her signature in a nearby guesthouse?
Archive in this episode: NPR, ITN via Getty, The Telegraph
Get in touch: juliewardcase@telegraph.co.uk
Watch the accompanying film to this series: https://youtu.be/T8VhCxyx3O0
Sign up to the Telegraph: https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara (https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara)
Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor (https://open.acast.com/networks/65719504ffda880012bd81a4/shows/6580123a3c61a30018545a14/episodes/telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor)
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10 Aug 2026
SOS | Episode 1
On a cold February day in 1988, Julie Ward sets off on the journey of a lifetime from England, through Africa. She establishes a new life in the bustling capital of Kenya but mysteriously disappears while on safari - leaving her plane ticket back to England untouched on a table in her Nairobi home. When her father John flies to Kenya to track her down, he finds a gruesome crime scene in the Masai Mara that throws up more questions than it answers.
Archive in this episode: NPR, ITN via Getty, The Telegraph
Get in touch: juliewardcase@telegraph.co.uk (mailto:juliewardcase@telegraph.co.uk)
Watch the accompanying film to this series: https://youtu.be/T8VhCxyx3O0 (https://youtu.be/T8VhCxyx3O0)
Sign up to the Telegraph: https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara (https://bit.ly/murdermasaimara)
Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor (https://open.acast.com/networks/65719504ffda880012bd81a4/shows/6580123a3c61a30018545a14/episodes/telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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