AFP - Thomas Cholmondeley, scion of Kenya's foremost family of white settlers, is to be freed from jail five months after he was convicted of shooting dead a black poacher on his ranch.

Cholmondeley, who has been in custody since 2006 over the shooting of Robert Njoya on the family's huge Rift Valley ranch, was sentenced to eight months in prison for manslaughter in May.

"Cholmondeley is among prisoners who were remaining with less than six months to complete their jail terms. He has been cleared for release this morning (Friday)," Commissioner of Prisons Isaiah Osugo told AFP.

"It is a requirement that a prisoner can be released if he or she is remaining with less than six months to complete their jail terms and this is the case with Tom," Osugo added.

But it was not immediately clear if Cholmondeley had left the prison.

The killing sparked one of the most high-profile trials in the country's post-independence history and a re-opening of the wounds of Kenya's colonial legacy.

Eton-educated Cholmondeley denied killing Njoya and only admitted to shooting dogs when he and a friend opened fire on a group of poachers trespassing on the property.