Ex UK Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenyan Female Appears in Courtroom

An individual has shown up before a judge as deportation processes began in the legal matter of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British army base in 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is a native of the Manchester area, showed up in the Westminster court on the last Friday, and stated to the court he would challenge the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was released by a court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that the accused had been accused of a sole charge, of killing, and that the government of Kenya would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

He previously worked as a army medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the northwestern England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21 years old, a beautician who had a baby daughter, vanished after a night out, and her remains was discovered after two months in the premises of the hotel where she had most recently observed.

Nobody had previously been arrested or accused in association with her death. Purkiss’s arrest came after a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a report in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the newspaper approached several current and former soldiers in the regiment.

The probe has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the matter.