Ex British Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Woman Appears in Court

A man has been presented in court as deportation processes started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a UK military installation in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, showed up in Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and informed the court he intended to contest the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for Purkiss was issued by a court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been charged with a sole charge, of killing, and that the government of Kenya would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss served formerly as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her remains was found after two months in the premises of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.

Not a single person had before been taken into custody or accused in association with her demise. His detention came after a recent detective probe, which came after a exposé in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet reached out to several active and retired troops in the regiment.

The investigation has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.