KENYA:THE RIGHT Honourable Thomas Cholmondeley plonks his gangly frame in a battered armchair as if he was in an Eton common room rather than Kamiti maximum security prison, writes ROB CRILLin Nairobi.
A rare coincidence of water and electricity means he has had the chance of a hot shower for the first time in weeks.
"I've washed my hair and had a good shower, and things always seem better then," he says, beaming his greetings around the shabby prison warders' office where he is allowed to meet visitors.
It is more than two years since Cholmondeley (40) was arrested and charged with murder after a poacher was shot dead on his family's estate - the second similar incident in little more than a year.
Cholmondeley's defence will finally begin today. His trial has dragged on endlessly with suspicions that the prosecution is stalling for time in a case it cannot win.
The Old Etonian, heir to the fifth Baron Delamere, initially told police he had accidentally killed Robert Njoya while trying to shoot dogs that were bearing down on him and a friend as they walked on the family's 58,000-acre estate.
However, he changed his story when detectives, who had investigated Cholmondeley a year earlier for shooting dead a wildlife ranger only to see the case dropped on the instruction of the attorney general, charged Cholmondeley with murder.
His defence has since managed to raise doubts that he fired the fatal shot. That has not stopped Kenyan politicians using the trial to whip up anti-white sentiment in a country where land distribution remains a touch-paper issue.
Meanwhile, the case has dragged on with a year-long appeal, 38 prosecution witnesses and constant delays as the judge notes down evidence in longhand.
Now the great-grandson of the third Baron Delamere - one of Kenya's most famous white settlers and the founder of the Happy Valley set - will give his side of the story. He is expected to read a non-sworn statement, a tactic which prevents the prosecution from cross-examining the defendant and a further opportunity to slow the trial.
Cholmondeley admits he is surprised it has taken two years for his defence even to begin. "I think the whole nature of court proceedings needs to be addressed. People have become very accepting of the fact that cases take years to resolve. This should not be so."
Cholmondeley has already worked inside the prison to improve the erratic supply of water, and plans to campaign for prison reform once his case is finished.
Meanwhile life inside has settled into a steady routine.
"I get out of bed, do a little exercise, some yoga. Everyone else gets up at about the same time and we take a bit of tea together. Sometimes we play badminton."
The rest of the day is spent reading or keeping up a diary which he hopes eventually to have published.
A prison officer opens the door to the office and immediately apologises to "Mr Tom" before backing out again.
Although he is away from convicted rapists and murderers, conditions are grim. The scent of urine permeates every corner.
"I can tell you great stories like the day we killed 22 rats in half an hour and we all went round with broom handles like game hunters.I've had all sorts of stomach complaints and skin problems - filth-related conditions, I might say."
His supporters are convinced the judge will have no other option than to find him innocent of murder.
The fear now is that a second acquittal could prompt fresh unrest in a country where divisions over land and money were exposed during weeks of political and tribal violence this year.