Ex British Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Woman Shows Up in Court

An individual has appeared in court as extradition proceedings began in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a British forces camp in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the deportation. Sources suggest that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for Purkiss was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a single count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

He was once employed as a army medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

The victim, 21 years old, a hairdresser who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered two months later in the premises of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had previously been arrested or indicted in relation to her death. His detention was the result of a fresh police investigation, which came after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

The investigation has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the legal case.