Former UK Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Court

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a female from Kenya who was found dead near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of Greater Manchester, was presented at the Westminster court on the last Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A detention order for Purkiss was issued by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been accused of a single count, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would seek his extradition to stand trial.

The defendant served formerly as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her corpse was discovered after two months in the area of the lodging where she had last been seen.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or accused in relation to her passing. His detention followed a recent detective probe, which was initiated after a article in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

The investigation has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the case.