Former UK Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has shown up before a judge as deportation processes started in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a UK military installation in 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 detained on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a one count, of homicide, and that the government of Kenya would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

He was once employed as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the army unit for the northwestern England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, 21, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her body was discovered two months later in the premises of the accommodation where she had most recently observed.

Nobody had earlier been arrested or indicted in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a fresh police investigation, which came after a report in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper approached several current and former soldiers in the unit.

This inquiry has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the case.