Ex British Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenya Woman Shows Up in Court

An individual has appeared in court as deportation processes began in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a British army base in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

An arrest warrant for Purkiss was authorized by a Nairobi court in the month of September. The prosecution informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been accused of a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

The defendant was once employed as a medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her body was located two months later in the premises of the accommodation where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had earlier been arrested or indicted in association with her death. His detention came after a new police inquiry, which came after a report in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication contacted several active and retired troops in the regiment.

The investigation has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.