Former British Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Female Appears in Courtroom

A suspect has been presented in court as extradition proceedings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was found dead near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, was presented at the Westminster court on Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition. It is understood that he was detained on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for Purkiss was authorized by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution told the Kenyan court that the accused had been charged with a one count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would request his deportation to stand trial.

The defendant was once employed as a army medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21 years old, a beautician who had a infant daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her remains was found after two months in the area of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had previously been detained or accused in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a new police inquiry, which came after a exposé in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication reached out to several current and former soldiers in the regiment.

This inquiry has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.