Ex UK Soldier Charged of Killing Kenya Woman Appears in Court

A suspect has been presented in court as extradition hearings started in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British army base in the year 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of the Manchester area, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and stated to the court he would challenge the extradition request. Sources suggest that he was arrested on Thursday night.

A detention order for Purkiss was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that the accused had been charged with a one count, of murder, and that the Kenyan authorities would request his deportation to answer to accusations.

The defendant previously worked as a medical attendant with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, the army unit for the English northwest, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, vanished after a night out, and her corpse was located two months later in the area of the lodging where she had last been seen.

Nobody had earlier been detained or accused in relation to her demise. His detention was the result of a fresh police investigation, which followed a article in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication approached several active and retired troops in the military group.

The investigation has been spearheaded by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the matter.