Former UK Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has been presented in court as extradition hearings began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was found dead near a British army base in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from Greater Manchester, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and stated to the court he planned to fight the extradition. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on Thursday evening.

A detention order for the defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. The prosecution told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a single count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would request his deportation to stand trial.

Purkiss was once employed as a army medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a baby daughter, disappeared after a night on the town, and her remains was found two months later in the premises of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had previously been detained or charged in association with her passing. The arrest of Purkiss followed a fresh police investigation, which followed a report in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

The probe has been spearheaded by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the case.