Ex British Serviceman Charged of Killing Kenya Female Shows Up in Court
A suspect has been presented in court as extradition hearings began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was killed near a British army base in 2012.
Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from the Manchester area, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the extradition. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday evening.
A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was authorized by a court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a one count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to face charges.
Purkiss previously worked as a medic with the Duke of Lancasterâs Regiment, the infantry regiment for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.
Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a baby daughter, disappeared after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered two months later in the premises of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.
No one had earlier been arrested or charged in connection to her death. His detention came after a new police inquiry, which was initiated after a article in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.
The investigation has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.