Ex British Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings commenced in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from the Manchester area, showed up in the Westminster court on Friday, and stated to the court he intended to contest the extradition request. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A detention order for Purkiss was released by a Nairobi court in the month of September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that the individual had been charged with a one count, of homicide, and that the government of Kenya would request his deportation to stand trial.

He was once employed as a medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a young daughter, vanished after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered after two months in the grounds of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

No one had earlier been arrested or charged in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss came after a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a report in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet approached several current and former soldiers in the regiment.

This inquiry has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the legal case.