Former British Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenya Woman Appears in Courtroom
A man has shown up before a judge as deportation processes began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a UK military installation in the year 2012.
The accused Robert Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is originally from Greater Manchester region, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he intended to contest the deportation. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday evening.
A detention order for Purkiss was issued by a court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that the individual had been accused of a single count, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to face charges.
The defendant was once employed as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.
Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, vanished after a night out, and her remains was discovered 60 days later in the area of the accommodation where she had most recently observed.
Not a single person had previously been taken into custody or accused in association with her demise. His detention came after a fresh police investigation, which followed a report in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication reached out to several current and former soldiers in the regiment.
The investigation has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.
