Ex UK Soldier Accused of Killing Kenya Female Appears in Courtroom

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings began in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was found dead near a UK military installation in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is originally from Greater Manchester region, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the deportation. It is understood that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that the individual had been facing a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to face charges.

The defendant previously worked as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, went missing after a night out, and her body was discovered 60 days later in the grounds of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or charged in association with her passing. Purkiss’s arrest was the result of a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a article in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication reached out to several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The investigation has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, maintains prosecutorial power in the matter.