Former British Serviceman Charged of Killing Kenyan Woman Shows Up in Court

A suspect has appeared in court as deportation processes began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British army base in 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from the Manchester area, showed up in Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on Thursday evening.

A detention order for Purkiss was released by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a single count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to face charges.

The defendant served formerly as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the army unit for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her remains was located two months later in the premises of the lodging where she had previously spotted.

Not a single person had previously been taken into custody or indicted in connection to her death. Purkiss’s arrest followed a recent detective probe, which followed a exposé in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the media outlet reached out to several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The probe has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.