Sarah's parents' heartfelt plea to the judge

Earlier this week Vic and Kate Groves wrote directly to the judge handling the trial, copying in officials including the Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind, and the Chief Justice, Deepak Mishra.

More delays hit the trial again yesterday because serious civil unrest in Kashmir meant that prisoners could not be brought from the Central Jail to court.

Miss Groves was killed on a houseboat in Kashmir in April 2013.

Dutchman Richard de Wit has denied murdering her, but the trial is now at its 112th scheduled hearing.

‘It has been made clear to everyone that, as matters stand, neither side will trust the eventual verdict,’ Mr Groves said yesterday.

In the letter to Judge Tahir Raina, Mr and Mrs Groves said they wrote as deeply distressed and exasperated parents.

‘We are asking for your help in bringing the trial to a safe conclusion as soon as possible.

‘We have been, and we remain, appalled by the complete lack of respect and professionalism with which the above trial (a murder trial) has been conducted to date.

‘It is particularly disappointing that nobody within political, diplomatic or legal circles, at any level, has had the courage or desire to rectify the situation.

‘Because of this, the matter has been referred to the British Government at the highest level and we are expecting a formal complaint to be lodged by the British Government to the Indian Government in Delhi in the near future. The British Foreign Secretary is currently considering the next steps to take.’

A petition to Boris Johnson has gathered more than 15,000 signatures.

Next month it will be five years since the case began.

Since September 2015, a period of 29 months, only four witnesses have been fully examined and cross-examined, they said in the letter.

No witnesses were fully processed between October 2015 and May 2017 – a period of 19 months.

‘We feel sure you will agree that these are disgraceful statistics by any standards, in any jurisdiction. That said, we do appreciate the above happened before you were appointed as Judge in the trial.

‘When the case moved to the Second Additional Magistrates’ Court in August 2017 under your direction, we had renewed hopes that it would at last be treated with the respect it deserves, that the deadlock would be broken and that witnesses would be brought to court in an acceptable manner.

‘Disappointingly, despite 12 scheduled hearings since then, only one witness has been examined and fully cross-examined.’

The lack of determination and application shown by the current Special Public Prosecutor, Mohammad Sultan, is an insult to his profession and demonstrates a complete lack of commitment to and understanding of this case, they said.

‘In addition to the above, the ineffectual and virtually non-existent cross-examination of key witnesses in the early days of the trial gives us serious cause for concern.’

They say that neither side in the case can have confidence in the outcome because of how it has been conducted.

‘We hope you understand that, after standing by and tolerating the most unacceptable and woefully inadequate legal processes unfold before our very eyes for such a long time, we are deeply distressed and fear that, without your help and support, we may never know the truth about what happened on Saturday 6th April 2013, when our wonderful daughter was brutally and mercilessly stabbed 46 times.’

They outlined eight steps they want taken to ensure a safe verdict, including replacing the prosecutor, recalling key witnesses, and being provided with all crime scene photography and videography.

The case is due to resume today.