Former UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A suspect has appeared in court as deportation processes began in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was found dead near a British forces camp in 2012.

Purkiss, 38, who is a native of Greater Manchester region, showed up in the Westminster court on Friday, and informed the court he would challenge the deportation. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.

An arrest warrant for the suspect was released by a Nairobi court in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been accused of a sole charge, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

Purkiss previously worked as a medic with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the north-west of England, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a night on the town, and her body was found 60 days later in the premises of the accommodation where she had most recently observed.

Not a single person had previously been detained or indicted in connection to her demise. Purkiss’s arrest came after a recent detective probe, which followed a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication contacted several current and former soldiers in the regiment.

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