Former UK Serviceman Charged of Murdering Kenya Female Appears in Courtroom

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

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is a native of the Manchester area, appeared before Westminster magistrates court on Friday, and stated to the court he planned to fight the extradition. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was released by a court in Nairobi in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been facing a sole charge, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would pursue his extradition to answer to accusations.

He was once employed as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the infantry regiment for the English northwest, including on tours of Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a infant daughter, disappeared after a evening out, and her body was discovered after two months in the grounds of the hotel where she had most recently observed.

No one had before been taken into custody or accused in connection to her passing. Purkiss’s arrest came after a fresh police investigation, which followed a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the newspaper contacted several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.

The probe has been led by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral security treaty, maintains prosecutorial power in the case.