Ex British Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenya Female Appears in Court

An individual has shown up before a judge as deportation processes started in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a British army base in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and informed the court he intended to contest the extradition. Sources suggest that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A detention order for Purkiss was authorized by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that the accused had been accused of a one count, of homicide, and that the government of Kenya would request his deportation to stand trial.

The defendant served formerly as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the army unit for the northwestern England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her body was discovered two months later in the area of the hotel where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had earlier been arrested or charged in connection to her passing. His detention came after a fresh police investigation, which was initiated after a article in the year 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the media outlet reached out to several current and former soldiers in the military group.

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