Ex UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Woman Appears in Courtroom

A man has been presented in court as extradition proceedings started in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British forces camp in the year 2012.

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

A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was authorized by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been charged with a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to face charges.

He was once employed as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, twenty-one, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, vanished after a evening out, and her corpse was discovered two months later in the premises of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

No one had before been arrested or indicted in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss came after a new police inquiry, which came after a report in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet reached out to several active and retired troops in the military group.

The investigation has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the matter.