A long road to finding the truth on Agnes Wanjiru
Agnes Wanjiru, a hairdresser, was last seen going to a bedroom with a British soldier at the Lions Court Inn Hotel in Nanyuki, a dustbowl town three hours north of Nairobi. Her body was found in June 2012. She had been stabbed in the chest and then stuffed into a septic tank, possibly still alive.
Comrades of the suspected killer said that army officers and military police failed to act on claims that a murder had taken place during a drinking binge at the hotel. In 2019 a Kenyan judge ruled that on the balance of probabilities a British soldier was responsible for Wanjiru's death.
• Agnes Wanjiru killing: soldier may be extradited as 20 troops come forward
Two years later we published our first investigation into the events of March 31, 2012. Our reporting prompted an individual we have called Soldier Y to make a witness statement to military police in which he identified a former colleague, Soldier X, who he says showed him Wanjiru's body on the night of the murder. This reignited the inquiry and, although the wheels of justice have ground slowly for Wanjiru's family, Britain's defence secretary, John Healey, has commendably vowed to help resolve the case.
The Kenyan director of public prosecutions is reviewing the case file to decide on a murder charge. Prosecutors would then have to apply for the suspect, who is living in Britain, to be extradited for trial. If they do, the UK should surrender him without hesitation.
It is a tribute to the power of investigative journalism that the horrific story, for so long shrouded in uncertainty and cover-up, is approaching this moment of clarity. If the Kenyan authorities ask for him, the army and the Ministry of Defence should hand over their man.
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