Ex UK Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenyan Female Appears in Courtroom

A man has appeared in court as deportation processes began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British forces camp in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is a native of the Manchester area, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the extradition. It is understood that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for the suspect was issued by a Nairobi court in the month of September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been facing a one count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to face charges.

Purkiss served formerly as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her body was discovered two months later in the premises of the lodging where she had last been seen.

No one had earlier been arrested or indicted in relation to her death. Purkiss’s arrest was the result of a fresh police investigation, which was initiated after a report in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

This inquiry has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.