Former UK Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenya Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings commenced in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a British army base in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of the Manchester area, was presented at the Westminster court on the last Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the deportation. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday night.

An arrest warrant for Purkiss was released by a court in Nairobi in the month of September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been accused of a one count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would request his deportation to face charges.

The defendant previously worked as a army medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the northwestern England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a infant daughter, vanished after a night out, and her corpse was located two months later in the area of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had earlier been arrested or indicted in association with her demise. The arrest of Purkiss followed a new police inquiry, which followed a article in the year 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication contacted several current and former soldiers in the military group.

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