The ruling was made on mental health grounds, after Dewani’s lawyers said the 31-year-old was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression

Britain’s High Court on Friday temporarily halted the extradition of businessman Shrien Dewani to South Africa, where he is wanted in connection with the murder of his wife on their honeymoon in 2010.

The ruling was made on mental health grounds, after Dewani’s lawyers said the 31-year-old was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and his life could be at risk if he were extradited.

Dewani’s family welcomed the decision, saying in a statement:

“Shrien is innocent and is determined to return to South Africa to clear his name and seek justice for his wife Anni.”

Anni Dewani’s sister Ami Denborg told reporters outside court that her family “just want him to get better now so he can finally return to South Africa and tell us what happened.

“We just want to know the truth,” she said.

A judge approved Dewani’s extradition in August last year, and his transfer to South Africa was given the green light by Britain’s interior minister the following month.

But his lawyers appealed, and in their ruling on Friday two High Court judges said it would be “unjust and oppressive” to order Dewani’s removal in his present condition.

High Court judge Sir John Thomas added, though: “It is plainly in the interests of justice that the appellant be tried in South Africa as soon as he is fit to be tried”. 

Newlywed Anni Dewani, 28, from Sweden, was shot when the taxi the couple were travelling in was hijacked in Gugulethu on the outskirts of Cape Town last November.    

She was found dead in the back of the abandoned cab with a bullet wound to her neck after cabbie Zola Tongo drove the honeymooners to the township.    

Shrien Dewani claims the vehicle was carjacked and that he and Tongo were forced out of the car unharmed before Mrs Dewani was driven away and killed.    

However, Tongo turned state witness and, in return for a reduced sentence, alleged that Dewani paid for his wife to be killed.   

In their ruling on Friday, the judges rejected the defence team’s argument that he should not be sent to a South African jail because of the risk of sexual attack by other inmates.

And while accepting that Dewani suffered from two severe mental illnesses, they said there was a good chance he would recover within a reasonable time.

But they balanced this with the fact that he was unfit to attend the hearing, the risk of a deterioration in his condition, the increased prospect that he would get better faster in Britain, as well as the lesser risk of suicide.

Added to the lack of certainty about what would happen to Dewani if he was sent to South Africa in his current condition, Thomas said “we consider that on the evidence... it would be unjust and oppressive to order his extradition”. The judge added: “His mental illness apart, it is plainly in the interests of justice that the appellant be tried in South Africa as soon as he is fit to be tried”. 

Successive court hearings have heard how Dewani began suffering mental health problems after the killing of his wife, and how his condition deteriorated sharply following his arrest.

He took an overdose in February 2011, although he denied trying to kill himself, and was admitted to a health clinic.

But by April his condition had worsened further and he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

His lawyers told a hearing last December that Dewani was so ill that he was incapable of giving instructions to his lawyers or following trial proceedings.