The mother of a British woman killed while backpacking in India says she fears she will never find out the truth behind her daughter’s death.

Sarah Groves died aged 24 after being stabbed more than 40 times while she slept on a houseboat in Kashmir in 2013.

Dutchman Richard de Wit is accused of killing her, but five years on his court case has yet to be concluded, despite a reported 125 scheduled hearings.

Sarah Groves
Sarah Groves’ family fear they will never get answers (Family handout/PA)

Ms Groves’ mother Kate, 65, now says she fears she will not live long enough to see justice for her daughter.

She told the Sunday Mirror: “It’s a horrible realisation, knowing we might never find out the truth of what happened to our beautiful, loving girl that terrible night.

“I can’t bear to think that we won’t get answers, I need to have hope. I just hope I live long enough.”

Mrs Groves and her husband Victor, from Guernsey, are hoping new Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will get behind their fight for justice, and say they want the UK Government to launch a formal complaint with Indian authorities on their handling of the case.

The couple have repeatedly called on the British Government to apply diplomatic pressure to move matters forward.

Mrs Groves said she would “beg” Mr Hunt to help them if she were to meet him, adding: “I’d ask him what he’d do if his own daughter had died in such a merciless way.”

De Wit, who was also a guest on the houseboat on which Ms Groves died, suffers from paranoia and has repeatedly sacked his legal representatives if he believes they have a connection with the Dutch government.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We have been supporting Sarah’s family since she died and will continue to do all we can to help them. They have our deepest sympathies at what continues to be a very difficult time.

“While we cannot interfere in another country’s judicial processes, we have raised Sarah’s case with the Indian authorities at both a ministerial and official level.”