Ex UK Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenyan Female Appears in Courtroom

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from Greater Manchester, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday night.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was released by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the individual had been charged with a one count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss was once employed as a army medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered 60 days later in the grounds of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had earlier been taken into custody or accused in association with her demise. The arrest of Purkiss followed a new police inquiry, which came after a exposé in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication contacted several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The probe has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, retains jurisdiction in the case.