Still no justice: family's anger at Healey over 2012 murder

The niece of a Kenyan woman who was murdered more than a decade ago, allegedly by a British soldier, says her family believe the defence secretary "made a promise for his political gain" when he met them in April.

- Hannah Al-Othman

John Healey told the family of Agnes Wanjiru of his "determination to see a resolution" in the case, pledging the UK's full support for the investigation. But now, almost four months later, Wanjiru's family say they have seen no further progress in their fight for justice.

Wanjiru, who was 21, disappeared in March 2012, after being seen drinking with British soldiers at a bar in the Lion's Court hotel in Nanyuki, a town in the east of Kenya, where the army has a military base. Her family spent two months looking for her, until her body was found stuffed into a septic tank in the hotel grounds. She had been stabbed several times.

Six years ago, an inquest in Kenya found that Wanjiru, who was mother to a baby girl, had been killed by one or more British soldiers.

In 2021, several soldiers then attached to the Duke of Lancaster's regiment named a suspect. One claimed the suspect, a fellow Duke of Lancaster soldier, had confessed to her murder on the night, and had taken him to see Wanjiru's body in the septic tank.

While a British soldier is believed to be the primary suspect, under the UK-Kenya defence cooperation agreement, jurisdiction for investigating the murder lies with the Kenyan authorities.