Former British Serviceman Accused of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Court

A man has shown up before a judge as extradition proceedings started in the legal matter of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a British army base in 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is hailing from the Manchester area, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he would challenge the deportation. It is understood that he was arrested on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was released by a Nairobi court in September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been facing a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss 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.

The victim, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her body was located after two months in the grounds of the hotel where she had previously spotted.

Nobody had before been detained or accused in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss followed a recent detective probe, which came after a exposé in the year 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper contacted several current and former soldiers in the military group.

The probe has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the legal case.