Former British Soldier Charged of Killing Kenyan Woman Appears in Courtroom

A man has been presented in court as extradition hearings began in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the deportation. Reports indicate that he was detained on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was issued by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a one count, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to face charges.

He served formerly as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

The victim, twenty-one, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered after two months in the premises of the hotel where she had previously spotted.

Not a single person had before been arrested or accused in connection to her death. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a new police inquiry, which followed a report in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication contacted several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The probe has been led by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the matter.