Sarah Groves' parents' lost decade over murder court delays

Sarah's parents, Vic and Kate Groves, have been fighting for justice for their daughter

The father of a woman who was murdered a decade ago said "it has been 10 lost years" after hundreds of court dates and constant trial delays.

Sarah Groves, 24, from Guernsey was found dead on the houseboat she was staying at in Kashmir in April 2013.

Dutch national Richard de Wit has denied murdering Miss Groves in a trial which has faced constant delays.

The trial started in 2013 with the last hearing 18 months ago. It has since been suspended indefinitely.

Sarah Groves was 24 and had been travelling alone in India

Sarah's father, Vic Groves, said: "I haven't got too many more 10 year gaps to lose.

"I don't mean that to sound selfish but it's purely because it's been a dominant feature of our lives that has almost precluded all other things."

Sarah Groves from Guernsey was found dead on the houseboat she was staying at in Kashmir

During the last 10 years, there have been 225 scheduled court dates but the murder trial has been delayed continuously.

Reasons for the delays include huge floods in Kashmir that washed away crucial evidence, including photographs of the crime scene, the defendant sacking his lawyer five times, witnesses failing to appear and civil unrest in the Kashmir region.

Sarah's mother, Kate Groves, said: "I don't know how we would have handled it, if we had known it would take this long.

"One of the more difficult aspects has been that I have had to pull back from some really dear friends because you can't have a conversation, there's an elephant in the room that I can't talk about, and all the time it's a pre-occupation in my mind.

"I don't want to go out and talk about my sadness. I don't want to bring other people down."

Mr Groves added: "It will always be there. Our family is no longer complete and it can never be complete again."

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