Former UK Soldier Accused of Killing Kenyan Woman Shows Up in Court
A man has shown up before a judge as deportation processes commenced in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was found dead near a UK military installation in 2012.
Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from the Manchester area, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the deportation. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.
A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was released by a Nairobi court in September. The prosecution informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been accused of a one count, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.
He previously worked as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.
Wanjiru, 21, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her body was discovered two months later in the grounds of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.
No one had previously been detained or charged in relation to her passing. His detention was the result of a fresh police investigation, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.
This inquiry has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.