Ex British Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenyan Woman Appears in Courtroom

An individual has been presented in court as extradition proceedings began in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was killed near a British forces camp in the year 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is a native of Greater Manchester, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition. It is understood that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was authorized by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. The state attorneys told the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a one count, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to stand trial.

Purkiss was once employed as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the English northwest, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, 21 years old, a hairdresser who had a infant daughter, vanished after a night on the town, and her remains was located after two months in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

No one had before been detained or accused in association with her demise. His detention was the result of a fresh police investigation, which came after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication contacted several current and former soldiers in the unit.

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