Former British Soldier Charged of Killing Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A suspect has been presented in court as extradition proceedings started in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a British forces camp in 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the deportation. It is understood that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A detention order for the defendant was released by a court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that the accused had been accused of a single count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss was once employed as a medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, went missing after a night out, and her body was found after two months in the area of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

No one had previously been detained or indicted in relation to her death. The arrest of Purkiss followed a fresh police investigation, which came after a exposé in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

This inquiry has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.