Ex UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Female Appears in Court

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was found dead near a British forces camp in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the deportation. Sources suggest that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

A detention order for the suspect was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been accused of a sole charge, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would request his deportation to stand trial.

Purkiss previously worked as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the army unit for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, disappeared after a night out, and her remains was located 60 days later in the grounds of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or indicted in relation to her passing. Purkiss’s arrest followed a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a article in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet approached several current and former soldiers in the unit.

The probe has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, retains jurisdiction in the case.