Ex British Soldier Accused of Killing Kenyan Woman Appears in Court

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

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, was presented at the Westminster court on Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the deportation. It is understood that he was arrested on Thursday night.

An arrest warrant for the defendant was released by a court in Nairobi in the month of September. The prosecution told the Kenyan court that the individual had been facing a one count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

The defendant previously worked as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hairdresser who had a infant daughter, went missing after a night on the town, and her body was discovered after two months in the premises of the hotel where she had last been seen.

Nobody had before been taken into custody or accused in association with her death. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a fresh police investigation, which was initiated after a article in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper reached out to several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

This inquiry has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the matter.