Ex British Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has appeared in court as extradition proceedings started in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was found dead near a British army base in 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the deportation. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was issued by a court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a single count, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to answer to accusations.

The defendant served formerly as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, 21, a beautician who had a infant daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her corpse was located 60 days later in the premises of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or accused in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a recent detective probe, which came after a exposé in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

This inquiry has been led by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, retains jurisdiction in the matter.