News

Family Of Agnes Wanjiru Murdered By British Soldier Sues UK Govt

Published

2 years ago

November 8, 2021

The 21-year-old was found dead in a septic tank behind the Lions Court hotel in Nanyuki, central Kenya, close to a British Army training camp two months after she disappeared in March 2012.

The family of a 21-year-old Kenyan woman said to have been murdered by a British soldier are taking legal action against the Ministry of Defence.

Relatives of Agnes Wanjiru, a single mother to a young baby, have instructed British legal firm Leigh Day to represent them in a bid to find answers to her death and why it has never been investigated in the UK.

Ms Wanjiru was found dead in a septic tank behind the Lions Court hotel in Nanyuki, central Kenya, close to a British Army training camp two months after she disappeared in March 2012.

The inquest into her death found she had been murdered by a British soldier.

Tessa Gregory, a partner at Leigh Day, told Sky News: “It just seems extraordinary that there are clear allegations that appear to have been well known that a 21-year-old woman in Kenya was brutally murdered by a British soldier whilst they were training in Kenya.

“And yet the family have no answers at all and the Royal Military Police here do not appear to have done a full investigation into the circumstances of the death.

“We have written to the Ministry of Defence to notify them that we’re instructed and to ask for all the details of the investigations they’ve carried out.

“What we want is for a proper independent investigation to be carried out into both the circumstances of Agnes’ death and also how it is that nine years later, nothing has been done to address this.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: “The jurisdiction for this investigation rests with the Kenyan police who we continue to work with on a daily basis to provide all possible support.

“This remains an active investigation with multiple lines of enquiry. In order to protect the investigation, and in the interests of justice we cannot comment further.”

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai has directed the DCI to re-open the case on the alleged murder of Agnes Wanjiru.

Mutyambai directed investigators to compile all the available evidence and witness accounts and ensure the case is concluded before a court of law.

“I have directed the DCI to re-open the case and compile all the available evidence and witness accounts and ensure the case is concluded before a court of law,” said Mutyambai.

He also called on authorities in the United Kingdom to collaborate with their Kenyan counterparts to conclude the case and administer justice.

The family of the late Agnes Wanjiru is agitating for justice and compensation after details emerged of how a British soldier in Nanyuki brutally murdered the 21-year-old mother of one.

Sunday Times, a UK publication detailed how the accused soldier confessed to fellow soldiers, with reports of cover-up of the murder by British Army bosses now emerging.

Wanjiru was brutally murdered back in 2012 when the daughter was just nine months old at the time.

An inquest into the murder of Agnes that concluded in November 2018 read in part: “I find it fit to close the inquest and, in my opinion, find that there was an offence as committed.”

The decision was delivered and signed by Njeri Thuku, a Principal Magistrate at the Nanyuki law courts.

The trail into the investigations of the murder has grown cold since then with the suspect yet to be brought to book.

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