Ex UK Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenya Woman Shows Up in Court

A suspect has appeared in court as extradition proceedings commenced in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a British army base in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is originally from Greater Manchester region, showed up in the Westminster court on Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the deportation. It is understood that he was detained on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for the suspect was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a single count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

The defendant was once employed as a army medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her corpse was discovered two months later in the area of the accommodation where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had before been taken into custody or accused in relation to her death. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a recent detective probe, which followed a article in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication contacted several active and retired troops in the military group.

The investigation has been led by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the matter.