Ex UK Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Court

A man has been presented in court as deportation processes started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British army base in the year 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from the Manchester area, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he intended to contest the extradition. It is understood that he was arrested on Thursday night.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been accused of a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

The defendant previously worked as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her remains was discovered after two months in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had previously been detained or accused in relation to her demise. The arrest of Purkiss came after a recent detective probe, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper contacted several current and former soldiers in the unit.

The probe has been led by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the case.