Former UK Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenya Female Appears in Court

A suspect has appeared in court as extradition proceedings began in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a British army base in the year 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from the Manchester area, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was authorized by a Nairobi court in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been accused of a one count, of homicide, and that the government of Kenya would pursue his extradition to face charges.

He previously worked as a army medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a young daughter, vanished after a night out, and her remains was discovered 60 days later in the area of the hotel where she had most recently observed.

Nobody had earlier been detained or indicted in connection to her demise. Purkiss’s arrest came after a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a article in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper contacted several active and retired troops in the regiment.

The investigation has been spearheaded by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, holds legal authority in the legal case.