Former British Soldier Accused of Killing Kenya Female Shows Up in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings began in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was killed near a UK military installation in 2012.

Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester, showed up in the Westminster court on Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the extradition. It is understood that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was authorized by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors told the Kenyan court that the individual had been charged with a single count, of killing, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to face charges.

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.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her remains was found after two months in the grounds of the hotel where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had previously been arrested or charged in connection to her passing. His detention followed a fresh police investigation, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper reached out to several current and former soldiers in the regiment.

This inquiry has been spearheaded by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, retains jurisdiction in the case.