Ex British Serviceman Charged of Killing Kenyan Female Appears in Court

A suspect has shown up before a judge as extradition hearings commenced in the investigation of Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan national, a woman of Kenyan origin who was found dead near a British army base in the year 2012.

Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from Greater Manchester region, showed up in the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition request. It is understood that he was taken into custody on Thursday evening.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was issued by a court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors informed the Kenyan judiciary that the accused had been facing a single count, of murder, and that the Kenyan government would request his deportation to face charges.

He previously worked as a army medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the northwestern England, including on missions to Afghanistan.

The victim, 21 years old, a hair stylist who had a young daughter, went missing after a evening out, and her remains was discovered after two months in the grounds of the accommodation where she had most recently observed.

Nobody had previously been taken into custody or charged in association with her death. Purkiss’s arrest followed a new police inquiry, which followed a report in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the newspaper approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the unit.

This inquiry has been led by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, holds legal authority in the matter.