Former British Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Female Appears in Court

A suspect has appeared in court as extradition hearings commenced in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British army base in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, showed up in Westminster magistrates court 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 detention order for the suspect was issued by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

The defendant served formerly as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, vanished after a night on the town, and her body was located 60 days later in the grounds of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

No one had before been detained or indicted in association with her demise. His detention came after a recent detective probe, which followed a article in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet contacted several active and retired troops in the military group.

This inquiry has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, retains jurisdiction in the matter.