Ex British Serviceman Accused of Killing Kenya Woman Shows Up in Courtroom

A suspect has been presented in court as extradition proceedings began in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was murdered near a UK military installation in the year 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from Greater Manchester, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and told 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 defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution told the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been facing a sole charge, of homicide, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to face charges.

He previously worked as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the army unit for the English northwest, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a beautician who had a baby daughter, disappeared after a night out, and her body was located 60 days later in the grounds of the hotel where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had earlier been arrested or indicted in relation to her death. His detention was the result of a fresh police investigation, which was initiated after a report in 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

The probe has been spearheaded by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the legal case.