Ex British Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenya Woman Appears in Courtroom

A man has shown up before a judge as deportation processes started in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a female from Kenya who was killed near a British army base in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of Greater Manchester, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

An arrest warrant for Purkiss was released by a Nairobi court in the month of September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to face charges.

Purkiss served formerly as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

The victim, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, vanished after a evening out, and her corpse was located 60 days later in the premises of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had before been taken into custody or charged in relation to her demise. His detention came after a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication reached out to several active and retired troops in the military group.

The probe has been led by Kenyan detectives, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the matter.