Former British Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenya Female Appears in Court

A man has appeared in court as deportation processes began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from the Manchester area, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he planned to fight the extradition request. It is understood that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was issued by a court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution told the Kenyan court that the accused had been accused of a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

The defendant previously worked as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a young daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her remains was discovered 60 days later in the premises of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had earlier been taken into custody or indicted in relation to her death. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a fresh police investigation, which came after a report in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper contacted several active and retired troops in the unit.

The investigation has been led by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the legal case.