Former UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Female Shows Up in Court

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British army base in 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from the Manchester area, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for Purkiss was issued by a Nairobi court in September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that the individual had been facing a one count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to answer to accusations.

He was once employed as a medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the northwestern England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist 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 last been seen.

No one had earlier been taken into custody or accused in relation to her death. Purkiss’s arrest came after a fresh police investigation, which followed a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication approached several active and retired troops in the military group.

This inquiry has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, maintains prosecutorial power in the matter.