Former British Serviceman Charged of Killing Kenyan Woman Shows Up in Court

A suspect has appeared in court as deportation processes began in the case of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a Kenyan woman who was found dead near a British army base in 2012.

Robert Purkiss, 38, who is hailing from Greater Manchester, appeared before the magistrates' court in Westminster on Friday, and informed the court he planned to fight the extradition request. It is understood that he was detained on Thursday night.

A detention order for the suspect was issued by a Nairobi court in September. The state attorneys stated before the Kenyan court that the individual had been charged with a sole charge, of homicide, and that the government of Kenya would seek his extradition to face charges.

The defendant served formerly as a army medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the north-west of England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, twenty-one, a hair stylist who had a infant daughter, vanished after a night out, and her corpse was found after two months in the grounds of the lodging where she had most recently observed.

No one had before been taken into custody or charged in connection to her passing. His detention was the result of a new police inquiry, which came after a article in the year 2021 by a weekly publication, in which the publication contacted several current and former soldiers in the regiment.

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