Former UK Serviceman Charged of Killing Kenyan Female Shows Up in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings started in the legal matter of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British forces camp in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the deportation. It is understood that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

An arrest warrant for Purkiss was authorized by a Nairobi court in September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been accused of a one count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to face charges.

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

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a young daughter, disappeared after a night out, and her corpse was located 60 days later in the grounds of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had earlier been taken into custody or indicted in relation to her demise. The arrest of Purkiss followed a recent detective probe, which came after a report in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication approached several active and retired troops in the regiment.

The probe has been headed by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.