Ex UK Soldier Accused of Murdering Kenyan Female Shows Up in Courtroom

A man has been presented in court as extradition hearings commenced in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a female from Kenya who was murdered near a British army base in 2012.

Purkiss, thirty-eight, who is a native of the Manchester area, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and told the court he intended to contest the deportation. Sources suggest that he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

An arrest warrant for Purkiss was authorized by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in the month of September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that the individual had been accused of a one count, of murder, and that the government of Kenya would request his deportation to stand trial.

Purkiss served formerly as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, vanished after a night out, and her corpse was discovered two months later in the area of the accommodation where she had last been seen.

No one had earlier been arrested or indicted in association with her demise. Purkiss’s arrest followed a recent detective probe, which was initiated after a report in 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication approached several current and former soldiers in the unit.

This inquiry has been led by Kenyan detectives, which, under a bilateral defence agreement, holds legal authority in the matter.