Former British Soldier Accused of Murdering Kenya Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has been presented in court as deportation processes commenced in the legal matter of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a UK military installation in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he planned to fight the extradition request. It is understood that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was issued by a court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to face charges.

He served formerly as a army medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a baby daughter, vanished after a evening out, and her remains was located after two months in the area of the hotel where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or charged in relation to her demise. Purkiss’s arrest came after a fresh police investigation, which came after a article in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the military group.

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