Ex British Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenyan Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has appeared in court as extradition proceedings began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a British forces camp in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he intended to contest the extradition. Sources suggest that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a sole charge, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to face charges.

Purkiss was once employed as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hairdresser who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her body was found after two months in the premises of the hotel where she had last been seen.

No one had earlier been detained or indicted in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a new police inquiry, which followed a report in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

This inquiry has been spearheaded by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the case.