Ex UK Soldier Accused of Killing Kenyan Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings commenced in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a UK military installation in 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the deportation. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was authorized by a court in Nairobi in the month of September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to stand trial.

The defendant previously worked as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

The victim, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, vanished after a evening out, and her corpse was discovered after two months in the area of the accommodation where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had earlier been detained or charged in association with her death. The arrest of Purkiss came after a fresh police investigation, which came after a article in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet contacted several active and retired troops in the military group.

The investigation has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, retains jurisdiction in the matter.