Ex UK Soldier Accused of Killing Kenya Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has been presented in court as extradition proceedings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British army base in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is originally from Greater Manchester region, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and told the court he would challenge the deportation. Reports indicate that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for the suspect was released by a court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been accused of a single count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to answer to accusations.

He served formerly as a medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

The victim, 21, a beautician who had a young daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her body was located two months later in the area of the lodging where she had last been seen.

No one had previously been taken into custody or charged in association with her passing. His detention was the result of a new police inquiry, which came after a article in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication contacted several active and retired troops in the military group.

This inquiry has been headed by Kenyan detectives, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the case.