Ex British Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Female Appears in Courtroom

An individual has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British army base in the year 2012.

The accused Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition request. It is understood that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was authorized by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that the individual had been charged with a sole charge, of killing, and that the government of Kenya would seek his extradition to face charges.

The defendant served formerly as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

The victim, twenty-one, a beautician who had a young daughter, went missing after a night out, and her corpse was found after two months in the premises of the lodging where she had last been seen.

No one had earlier been taken into custody or charged in association with her death. His detention came after a new police inquiry, which came after a report in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper approached several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The probe has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the matter.