Ex British Soldier Charged of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has shown up before a judge as deportation processes began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a UK military installation in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from the Manchester area, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he intended to contest the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was detained on Thursday night.

A detention order for the suspect was released by a Nairobi court in September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that Purkiss had been charged with a single count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

The defendant served formerly as a medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a hairdresser who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered 60 days later in the area of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had previously been taken into custody or accused in relation to her passing. His detention came after a recent detective probe, which was initiated after a article in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

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