Ex British Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has been presented in court as extradition proceedings started in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a British forces camp in 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is originally from Greater Manchester, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and stated to the court he planned to fight the extradition. Reports indicate that he was detained on the evening of Thursday.

A detention order for the defendant was released by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been charged with a single count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to stand trial.

Purkiss served formerly as a medic with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hairdresser who had a baby daughter, went missing after a night out, and her body was discovered after two months in the grounds of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

Not a single person had earlier been arrested or charged in association with her demise. His detention followed a new police inquiry, which came after a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the publication contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

This inquiry has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the case.