Former UK Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenyan Woman Shows Up in Court

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings commenced in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was killed near a UK military installation in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from the Manchester area, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and stated to the court he would challenge the extradition. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on Thursday evening.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been facing a single count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

He previously worked as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered two months later in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had earlier been taken into custody or charged in association with her death. His detention followed a recent detective probe, which came after a report in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

This inquiry has been headed by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.