Former UK Soldier Accused of Killing Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was killed near a British army base in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is a native of the Manchester area, showed up in the Westminster court on Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was released by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been accused of a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss served formerly as a army medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her corpse was found two months later in the area of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or accused in association with her demise. Purkiss’s arrest was the result of a fresh police investigation, which came after a report in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

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