An extradition hearing that was weeks away has been pushed to May 2027, leaving the relatives of Agnes Wanjiru without a trial date after more than a decade.
The family of Agnes Wanjiru, the young Kenyan woman whose body was found in a hotel septic tank in 2012, says it has been pushed to the edge after learning that an extradition hearing for the former British soldier accused of killing her will not take place next month as planned.
The hearing has instead been moved to May 2027. The report was carried by The Ghana Report.
What the case is about
Wanjiru was 21 and the mother of a five-month-old daughter when she disappeared in March 2012. She had spent an evening at a hotel in Nanyuki, a town roughly 200km north of Nairobi where British soldiers were based for training exercises.
Her body was discovered nearly three months later in a septic tank at the same hotel. She had stab wounds to her chest and abdomen.
In 2019, a Kenyan inquest — a judicial inquiry into how a person died — concluded that she had been unlawfully killed by one or two British soldiers.
In September 2025, Kenya's High Court issued an arrest warrant for a British national after prosecutors said they had enough evidence to support a murder charge.
The accused
Robert James Purkiss, a 38-year-old former British soldier, was arrested in the United Kingdom in November last year. He denies the allegation and his lawyers have said he will contest being sent to Kenya for trial.
In February he appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London by video link and was remanded in custody.
Why the family is angry
Wanjiru's niece, Esther Njoki, told the BBC that the family found out about the postponement through the UK embassy and was given no official reason.
"Agnes deserves justice," she said in a statement, adding that her daughter Stacy "deserves answers about what happened."
Njoki also said the family's patience was "now being taken advantage of."
The relatives say they had already raised money and made travel arrangements to attend the hearing in the UK, which was only three weeks away. They have asked the authorities to speed the matter up, pointing out that the delay means the case will run into a 15th year without a trial.
A UK court is expected to explain the reason for the postponement next week.
The diplomatic side
The case has drawn attention at government level. Last year, John Healey, then Britain's Defence Secretary, met the family during a visit to Kenya and promised his government's backing for their push for justice.
The UK government has said it remains committed to supporting the family, but has declined to comment on the live legal proceedings.
For readers in Ghana and across the diaspora, the case is a reminder of how long cross-border criminal matters can take when extradition — the formal transfer of a suspect from one country to another for trial — is contested.