Former UK Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

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

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from Greater Manchester, showed up in the Westminster court on Friday, and informed the court he intended to contest the extradition. Sources suggest that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was issued by a Nairobi court in September. The prosecution told the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

He served formerly as a army medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, disappeared after a night out, and her corpse was found 60 days later in the premises of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

No one had before been arrested or accused in relation to her passing. Purkiss’s arrest came after a new police inquiry, which followed a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet reached out to several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The probe has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.