Ex British Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenya Female Appears in Courtroom

A suspect has been presented in court as deportation processes began in the legal matter of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was killed near a UK military installation in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from Greater Manchester, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the extradition. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday evening.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was authorized by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been accused of a one count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

He was once employed as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hairdresser who had a baby daughter, vanished after a evening out, and her remains was found 60 days later in the premises of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.

Not a single person had earlier been detained or charged in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a recent detective probe, which came after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet approached several current and former soldiers in the regiment.

The probe has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, retains jurisdiction in the case.