Ex British Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenyan Female Appears in Court

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings began in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is originally from the Manchester area, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the deportation. Sources suggest that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for the defendant was issued by a court in Nairobi in the month of September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that the individual had been accused of a one count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss previously worked as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the northwestern England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a night on the town, and her corpse was located two months later in the grounds of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

Not a single person had before been arrested or charged in connection to her death. His detention came after a new police inquiry, which followed a exposé in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper reached out to several active and retired troops in the military group.

The investigation has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the matter.