UK Minister Offers to Meet Family of Kenyan Woman Killed by British Soldier

The UK’s Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey offered to personally meet the family of Agnes Wanjiru who was allegedly murdered in March 2012 by a British soldier.

Heappey, in an interview with the BBC, also revealed that Kenya was yet to formally ask for the extradition of suspects.

He added the UK would support any requests including charging and an extradition of the suspects.

Wanjiru was killed on March 21, 2012 at Lions Court Inn Hotel in Nanyuki before her body was dumped in a septic tank of the hotel.

The minister said he absolutely understood the pain of the relatives of Wanjiru, and was happy to meet, discuss and sympathise with them.

During an earlier visit to Kenya, Heappey had suggested a meeting between British officials and the family members, but none has since taken place.

Speaking to the BBC during a visit to the country, he said: “I absolutely understand their pain…I am happy to meet and discuss and sympathise and understand as best I can”.

The minister however clarified that any meeting would not be about accepting culpability on behalf of the UK while the legal investigation continued.

In October last year the family wrote an open letter to King Charles asking to meet him during his visit to the country.

According to the family, the British officials don’t seem to care about the case.

Wanjiru’s niece Esther Njoki, welcomed Heappey’s offer, saying the family hoped justice would be served this year.

“It’s been 12 years of pain…and frustration,” she told the BBC.

In November 2021, almost nine years after the death, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) launched investigations into the killing.

An inquest led by Judge Njeri Thuku and ended in 2019 concluded that Wanjiru was killed by one or two British soldiers. She was last seen alive in the company of two soldiers.

The soldier confessed to have fatally stabbed Wanjiru who was then living with her sister in Nanyuki’s Majengo slums together with her 5-month old baby.

It was an open secret that the British soldier had murdered the woman and sources said he even escorted some of his colleagues to the septic tank where he opened the lid and showed them the young mother’s body.

At least five British soldiers gave the Unit the same name of the killer soldier.

Just six days after her death, the regiment returned to the UK before being deployed to Afghanistan.

When her body was retrieved from the hotel’s septic tank, it had some parts missing and a stabbing wound.

The Judge had ordered two further criminal inquiries. No action was taken but nine and a half years later, a probe has been launched into the shocking murder that could be one of the worst cover-up ever.

However, forensic investigations were also significantly hampered by the fact that the body upon recovery, had decomposed and that the room she had been in had been repeatedly cleaned.

“I am not satisfied with the progress that is being made. We want this matter resolved once and for all. We have nothing to hide. If the evidence shows that the individual was culpable, then he is yours to extradite,” said Heappey.

The British soldiers, then attached to the British Unit Training in Kenya (Batuk) camp in Nanyuki, were on a night beer-drinking spree with commercial sex workers when Wanjiru met her death.