Former UK Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenya Woman Appears in Courtroom

A suspect has shown up before a judge as deportation processes commenced in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British army base in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of the Manchester area, appeared before the Westminster court on Friday, and told the court he would challenge the deportation. Sources suggest that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

A detention order for Purkiss was released by a court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a sole charge, of killing, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to face charges.

The defendant previously worked as a army medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21 years old, a beautician who had a young daughter, went missing after a night out, and her corpse was located after two months in the premises of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

Nobody had before been arrested or charged in association with her demise. The arrest of Purkiss came after a new police inquiry, which came after a report in the year 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the newspaper contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

The investigation has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.