Ex UK Serviceman Charged of Killing Kenyan Female Shows Up in Court

A man has been presented in court as extradition proceedings started in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a British army base in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from the Manchester area, showed up in the Westminster court on Friday, and stated to the court he would challenge the extradition. Sources suggest that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was authorized by a court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been charged with a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss was once employed as a medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a young daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her remains was located after two months in the grounds of the hotel where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had previously been arrested or charged in association with her demise. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the military group.

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