Former British Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenya Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

An individual has been presented in court as deportation processes began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a British forces camp in 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is originally from Greater Manchester region, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for the suspect was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a sole charge, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would seek his extradition to stand trial.

The defendant was once employed as a medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

The victim, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her remains was discovered after two months in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had previously been taken into custody or charged in association with her death. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a recent detective probe, which followed a exposé in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication approached several active and retired troops in the military group.

The probe has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, maintains prosecutorial power in the matter.