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

A suspect has been presented in court as extradition proceedings commenced in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a UK military installation in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and stated to the court he intended to contest the extradition. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on Thursday evening.

An arrest warrant for the suspect was released by a Nairobi court in the month of September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been accused of a one count, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would request his deportation to face charges.

Purkiss was once employed as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hairdresser who had a baby daughter, vanished after a night out, and her body was located after two months in the grounds of the hotel where she had last been seen.

No one had earlier been detained or accused in association with her demise. Purkiss’s arrest came after a recent detective probe, which came after a exposé in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication contacted several active and retired troops in the regiment.

This inquiry has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the legal case.