Former UK Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenyan Female Appears in Court

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was killed near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester region, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and stated to the court he would challenge the extradition. Sources suggest that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was issued by a court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the individual had been facing a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

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

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, disappeared after a night out, and her remains was discovered 60 days later in the grounds of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.

No one had before been detained or indicted in association with her death. The arrest of Purkiss came after a new police inquiry, which came after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

The probe has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the case.