Ex British Soldier Charged of Killing Kenyan Woman Appears in Courtroom

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings commenced in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British army base in the year 2012.

Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is originally from the Manchester area, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he intended to contest the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for Purkiss was released by a court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a one count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss previously worked as a medical attendant with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her remains was located two months later in the premises of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.

No one had before been detained or indicted in relation to her passing. His detention followed a new police inquiry, which followed a report in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the newspaper contacted several active and retired troops in the unit.

The probe has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.