Ex UK Soldier Accused of Killing Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

An individual has been presented in court as extradition hearings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from the Manchester area, showed up in Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and stated to the court he planned to fight the deportation. Sources suggest that he was detained on Thursday night.

A detention order for Purkiss was issued by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been facing a sole charge, of killing, and that the Kenyan government would request his deportation to answer to accusations.

He served formerly as a army medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a infant daughter, vanished after a night out, and her body was found after two months in the grounds of the lodging where she had last been seen.

No one had before been detained or charged in relation to her passing. His detention came after a recent detective probe, which followed a report in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication approached several current and former soldiers in the unit.

The probe has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, maintains prosecutorial power in the legal case.