Former UK Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenya Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a UK military installation in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the extradition. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was authorized by a court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution informed the Kenyan judiciary that the individual had been accused of a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss served formerly as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, disappeared after a night out, and her remains was found after two months in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had earlier been arrested or accused in association with her passing. The arrest of Purkiss came after a recent detective probe, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the military group.

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