Ex UK Serviceman Charged of Killing Kenya Woman Shows Up in Court

A man has appeared in court as deportation processes started in the case of Agnes Wanjiru, a female from Kenya who was found dead near a UK military installation in 2012.

Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from the Manchester area, was presented at the magistrates' court in Westminster on the last Friday, and told the court he planned to fight the deportation. Reports indicate that he was detained on the evening of Thursday.

A warrant for arrest for the defendant was issued by a Kenyan court in Nairobi in September. Legal prosecutors stated before the Kenyan court that the accused had been facing a one count, of killing, and that the Kenyan government would seek his extradition to stand trial.

He previously worked as a medic with the regiment of the Duke of Lancaster, the military regiment for the English northwest, including on deployments in Afghanistan.

Agnes Wanjiru, 21, a beautician who had a young daughter, went missing after a night out, and her corpse was located 60 days later in the area of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.

Not a single person had earlier been arrested or indicted in relation to her passing. The arrest of Purkiss was the result of a new police inquiry, which followed a exposé in 2021 by the Sunday Times, in which the media outlet contacted several current and former soldiers in the unit.

This inquiry has been headed by detectives in Kenya, which, under a mutual defense pact, retains jurisdiction in the legal case.