Former British Soldier Accused of Killing Kenya Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A suspect has been presented in court as deportation processes started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British army base in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of Greater Manchester, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and informed the court he intended to contest the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was detained on Thursday night.

A detention order for Purkiss was released by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

The defendant previously worked as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night out, and her remains was discovered after two months in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

No one had before been detained or accused in association with her death. Purkiss’s arrest followed a fresh police investigation, which followed a article in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet 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 matter.