Ex UK Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenyan Woman Appears in Courtroom

A man has appeared in court as deportation processes began in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was found dead near a British forces camp in 2012.

Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from Greater Manchester, was presented at the Westminster court on the last Friday, and stated to the court he planned to fight the extradition request. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A detention order for the suspect was issued by a court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been accused of a one count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss was once employed as a medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, went missing after a night out, and her corpse was located 60 days later in the grounds of the hotel where she had last been seen.

No one had before been taken into custody or indicted in association with her passing. Purkiss’s arrest came after a new police inquiry, which came after a exposé in the year 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the media outlet reached out to several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The investigation has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the case.