A man has appeared in court as extradition hearings started in the investigation of the victim Agnes Wanjiru, a woman of Kenyan origin who was murdered near a UK military installation in 2012.
Purkiss, 38 years old, who is originally from the Manchester area, was presented at Westminster magistrates court on the last Friday, and told the court he would challenge the extradition. Reports indicate that he was taken into custody on the evening of Thursday.
A detention order for the suspect was authorized by a court in Nairobi in September. The prosecution stated before the Kenyan court that Purkiss had been charged with a one count, of killing, and that the Kenyan authorities would seek his extradition to face charges.
The defendant was once employed as a medical attendant with the Lancaster Regiment, the army unit for the northwestern England, including on deployments in Afghanistan.
The victim, 21, a hairdresser who had a young daughter, vanished after a night out, and her remains was discovered two months later in the premises of the accommodation where she had previously spotted.
Not a single person had previously been detained or indicted in relation to her demise. Purkiss’s arrest followed a new police inquiry, which followed a exposé in the year 2021 by a Sunday newspaper, in which the publication approached several serving and ex-military personnel in the regiment.
This inquiry has been headed by investigators from Kenya, which, under a bilateral security treaty, holds legal authority in the legal case.
