Ex UK Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenyan Female Appears in Court

A man has shown up before a judge as deportation processes commenced in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from the Manchester area, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

An arrest warrant for the suspect was released by a court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to face charges.

Purkiss was once employed as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, 21, a beautician who had a young daughter, disappeared after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered two months later in the premises of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had earlier been detained or indicted in association with her death. The arrest of Purkiss came after a new police inquiry, which followed a exposé in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper reached out to several active and retired troops in the unit.

This inquiry has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, holds legal authority in the matter.