Former UK Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Court

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings started in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was found dead near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, showed up in Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the extradition. It is understood that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

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

Purkiss was once employed as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21 years old, a beautician who had a infant daughter, went missing after a night out, and her corpse was located two months later in the area of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had previously been detained or indicted in association with her demise. His detention was the result of a recent detective probe, which was initiated after a article in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

This inquiry has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.