Former British Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A suspect has appeared in court as extradition proceedings commenced in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British army base in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester, appeared before the Westminster court on Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition. It is understood that he was arrested on Thursday night.

A detention order for the suspect was issued by a court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that the accused had been accused of a single count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

The defendant previously worked as a army medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

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

Nobody had previously been detained or charged in relation to her passing. Purkiss’s arrest followed a fresh police investigation, which followed a exposé in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the media outlet reached out to several active and retired troops in the unit.

This inquiry has been spearheaded by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.