Former UK Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Female Appears in Court

An individual has appeared in court as extradition hearings commenced in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a female from Kenya who was killed near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, 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. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A detention order for the defendant was issued by a Nairobi court in the month of September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that the individual had been facing a sole charge, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss was once employed as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her corpse was discovered after two months in the premises of the hotel where she had previously spotted.

No one had previously been detained or accused in connection to her demise. The arrest of Purkiss came after a new police inquiry, which followed a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet reached out to several active and retired troops in the regiment.

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