Former UK Soldier Accused of Murdering Kenyan Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has appeared in court as deportation processes started in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was found dead near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

A warrant for arrest for the suspect was released by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a one count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

He was once employed as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the English northwest, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21, a hair stylist who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her body was located 60 days later in the grounds of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had earlier been arrested or accused in association with her death. His detention followed a recent detective probe, which was initiated after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication approached several active and retired troops in the military group.

The probe has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the case.