Ex British Soldier Accused of Murdering Kenya Female Appears in Court

A suspect has appeared in court as extradition hearings began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the deportation. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was authorized by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been accused of a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to stand trial.

The defendant was once employed as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

The victim, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, vanished after a evening out, and her body was located 60 days later in the area of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or accused in relation to her passing. Purkiss’s arrest came after a recent detective probe, which followed a report in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

The investigation has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the matter.