Former British Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings began in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a British army base in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the extradition. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was authorized by a Nairobi court in September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been facing a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss was once employed as a medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her body was discovered after two months in the area of the hotel where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had before been arrested or accused in relation to her passing. Purkiss’s arrest came after a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the media outlet approached several active and retired troops in the unit.

This inquiry has been headed by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the legal case.