Former UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenyan Female Appears in Court

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester, appeared before the Westminster court on the last Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was authorized by a court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to stand trial.

The defendant previously worked as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

The victim, 21, a hairdresser who had a infant daughter, vanished after a evening out, and her corpse was discovered 60 days later in the area of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had before been arrested or accused in relation to her demise. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a recent detective probe, which came after a exposé in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication reached out to several active and retired troops in the unit.

The probe has been spearheaded by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, maintains prosecutorial power in the matter.