Former UK Soldier Accused of Killing Kenyan Woman Appears in Court

A man has been presented in court as extradition proceedings began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British forces camp in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from Greater Manchester, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the extradition request. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was issued by a court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been accused of a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss was once employed as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, vanished after a night out, and her corpse was found after two months in the area of the hotel where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had earlier been detained or accused in connection to her death. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a new police inquiry, which followed a article in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper reached out to several active and retired troops in the unit.

The probe has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the case.