Ex British Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Woman Appears in Courtroom

A man has been presented in court as deportation processes began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is originally from the Manchester area, appeared before the Westminster court on Friday, and informed the court he intended to contest the deportation. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for the suspect was released by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss previously worked as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

The victim, 21, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, went missing after a night out, and her body was located 60 days later in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Nobody had previously been detained or indicted in connection to her demise. Purkiss’s arrest came after a fresh police investigation, which was initiated after a exposé in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

The investigation has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.