Former UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Woman Appears in Courtroom

An individual has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a UK military installation in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the extradition request. Reports indicate that he was arrested on Thursday night.

A detention order for the suspect was released by a Nairobi court in the month of September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been accused of a single count, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to face charges.

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

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a night out, and her corpse was discovered after two months in the grounds of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

No one had earlier been detained or charged in connection to her death. The arrest of Purkiss came after a recent detective probe, which came after a article in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet approached several active and retired troops in the regiment.

The investigation has been led by investigators from Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the case.