Justice for Agnes Wanjiru

Picture: Secretary of Defence John Healey met with Agnes Wanjiru’s family in April 2025

A Kenyan court this week ordered the arrest and extradition of a British soldier accused of murdering 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman, close to a United Kingdom army training camp in Kenya in 2012.

On the night of March 31, Wanjiru disappeared. Witnesses said she was last seen in the company of British soldiers on a night out at the Lion’s Court Lodge. The British unit is vital to the local economy, and many women in the area supplemented their income with sex work or gifts from British soldiers.

On June 5, Wanjiru’s body was found in a septic tank located close to the Lion’s Court Lodge. An inquest found she had been beaten and stabbed, and was most likely still alive when she was left in the septic tank.

In 2021 the Sunday Times revealed that “Soldier X”, whom Wanjiru was last seen with, had admitted to people in the barracks he has stabbed her, and revealed where he dumped her body. It was also claimed one soldier reported this to superiors.

The Tory government blocked further action, stating that Kenya had no jurisdiction over British troops stationed in the country and could not bring charges against the soldier. The Ministry of Justice responded by saying: “The jurisdiction for this investigation lies with the Kenyan Police Service,”. A UK Parliament vote in April 2023 amended security agreements between the two countries to allow for British troops to be tried in Kenya. The current government has not yet confirmed they will extradite the accused but has promised the Wanjiru family justice.

For decades reports have come out of emergencies about sexual violence and gendered violence by serving British soldiers. The intrinsic violent and dehumanising nature of the work, the racism and sexism of the institution, and the lack of consequences for behaviour all fuel its continuation.

The Labour government should ensure British soldiers face consequences for their crimes. And they should also stop peddling nationalism and militarism if they want to be the government that stops violence against women and girls.