Former UK Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenyan Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings began in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a British army base in the year 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of the Manchester area, showed up in Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the extradition. It is understood that he was arrested on Thursday night.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was released by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that the individual had been accused of a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss previously worked 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.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a young daughter, vanished after a night out, and her corpse was found after two months in the grounds of the lodging where she had last been seen.

No one had previously been arrested or indicted in connection to her demise. The arrest of Purkiss followed a recent detective probe, which came after a report in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet contacted several active and retired troops in the unit.

The probe has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the matter.