Former British Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenya Woman Appears in Courtroom

A man has appeared in court as extradition hearings began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from the Manchester area, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday night.

A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was issued by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that the individual had been facing a sole charge, of killing, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

He served formerly as a army medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hairdresser who had a infant daughter, vanished after a night on the town, and her body was found after two months in the premises of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

Not a single person had earlier been taken into custody or accused in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss followed a fresh police investigation, which followed a article in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the newspaper approached several current and former soldiers in the military group.

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