Ex UK Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenya Woman Appears in Court

A man has been presented in court as extradition proceedings commenced in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British forces camp in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday night.

A detention order for the suspect was authorized by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been accused of a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

He was once employed as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, vanished after a night on the town, and her remains was located after two months in the grounds of the hotel where she had last been seen.

No one had previously been taken into custody or charged in relation to her death. His detention came after a fresh police investigation, which came after a exposé in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet approached several active and retired troops in the regiment.

The investigation has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.