THE scion of the most prominent of Kenya’s white settler families spent yesterday in police custody after shooting dead an alleged poacher on his family’s Rift Valley estate.

Police said that Thomas Cholmondeley, sole heir to the 5th Lord Delamere, was arrested on Wednesday night and had admitted killing Robert Wambugu, 37.

It is the second time in little more than a year that the 38-year-old aristocrat, descended from a central figure of the White Highlands set, has been accused of killing someone on his land.

Last year he was charged with murder after the death of an undercover game warden. Mr Cholmondeley admitted shooting the ranger, but said that he acted in self-defence when the officer failed to identify himself. Police sources said yesterday that detectives were determined to conduct a detailed investigation and to avoid a repeat of last year’s furore, when the charges were eventually dropped and Mr Cholmondeley walked free.

Officers spent the day combing a patch of bush at his family’s 100,000-acre Soysambu Ranch. They recovered a bow and five arrows, as well as a rifle.

It is understood that Mr Cholmondeley had taken a friend, Carl “Flash” Tundo, a prominent Kenyan rally driver, to view a possible site for a new home at about 6pm.

After leaving their four-wheel-drive vehicle at the end of a dirt track, they walked deep into the bush. The spot they chose lay close to the top of an escarpment, looking out across the waters of Lake Elmenteita.

But as they made their way through thick acacia bushes beneath the setting sun they stumbled across what they believed to be a poaching party — five or six men carrying a dead impala with about eight dogs.

Mr Cholmondeley opened fire, killing two of the dogs and hit one of the suspected poachers in the pelvis.

He and Mr Tundo carried the injured man to their vehicle before driving him to hospital in Nakuru but Mr Wambugu was dead on arrival, according to Andrew Musangi, Mr Cholmondeley’s solicitor.

Close friends said that the death had been an accident.

Sally Dudmesh, who has been Mr Cholmondeley’s partner since he separated from his wife last year, said she was horrified.

“Tom was shooting at the dogs. The poachers ran and one was left hiding in the bush, so Tom had no idea there was someone hiding in the bush,” she said. “It’s incredibly unfortunate for something like this to happen to poor Tom after what happened last year.”

The Delameres are the most famous British settler family in Kenya. The 3rd Lord Delamere arrived at the end of the 19th century buying up huge tracts of land in the Rift Valley region.

He encouraged other European farmers to buy land in the same area, which became known as the Happy Valley. Its residents were famous for gin-soaked parties and adulterous weekends.

That began to change with the murder of Josslyn Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll, in 1941. The exploits of the Happy Valley set were recounted by London newspapers as they covered the subsequent trial and acquittal of Jock Broughton, later retold in James Fox’s book White Mischief.

Today the Happy Valley image is long gone. Residents talk of a wave of carjackings and murders that has spread through the region from Nairobi, 55 miles to the southeast.

Many of the region’s white farmers felt sympathy with Mr Cholmondeley’s predicament last year, saying it was safer to shoot first and ask questions later when armed strangers strayed on to your land.

However, that case split Kenya along race lines, with many of the country’s black population convinced that the courts offered preferential treatment to the country’s colonial elite.

Yesterday friends and relatives of the dead man gathered at Nakuru Central Police Station where Mr Cholmondeley was being held.

Philip Mbugua, 38, said that his brother was not involved in poaching but worked as a stone mason and artist to support his wife and four children. He said it was time that Mr Cholmondeley faced justice.

“What I know is that he is not a very humble person. He is hot-tempered and is liable to do anything,” he said. “He did not go to prison last time but now my brother is gone and he has a wife and young ones — so something must be done.”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Settlers burn Koran in mosque attack
• Gorillas threatened by charcoal trade
• Israeli anger at new Palestine food labels