Ex British Soldier Accused of Murdering Kenyan Woman Appears in Courtroom

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, was presented at the Westminster court on the last Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the extradition. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A detention order for the defendant was authorized by a Nairobi court in the month of September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been facing a one count, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would request his deportation to face charges.

The defendant was once employed as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, vanished after a night out, and her corpse was found 60 days later in the grounds of the hotel where she had previously spotted.

No one had before been taken into custody or indicted in association with her death. Purkiss’s arrest came after a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a article in the year 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the newspaper approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

The probe has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the legal case.