Ex British Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenyan Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a UK military installation in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester region, showed up in Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the extradition. Reports indicate that he was detained on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was authorized by a Nairobi court in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss previously worked as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her body was found 60 days later in the grounds of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had earlier been detained or charged in association with her death. Purkiss’s arrest followed a fresh police investigation, which followed a exposé in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the newspaper reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the military group.

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