Ex UK Soldier Accused of Murdering Kenya Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

A suspect has been presented in court as extradition proceedings started in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a British army base in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and stated to the court he would challenge the deportation. It is understood that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a single count, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would pursue his extradition to face charges.

The defendant served formerly as a army medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her body was found two months later in the premises of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had before been detained or charged in association with her death. His detention came after a new police inquiry, which came after a article in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

The probe has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, retains jurisdiction in the matter.