Former UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenyan Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has been presented in court as deportation processes started in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was found dead near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, showed up in Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition. Reports indicate that he was detained on Thursday night.

A detention order for the defendant was released by a 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 homicide, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to face charges.

He previously worked as a army medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, 21, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her corpse was found two months later in the grounds of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

No one had before been taken into custody or charged in association with her passing. Purkiss’s arrest followed a fresh police investigation, which followed a exposé in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

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