Ex-British soldier arrested over murder refused bail
Robert James Purkiss is fighting extradition in a London court as Kenya pursues him over the 2012 killing of Agnes Wanjiru
A former British soldier accused of murdering a Kenyan woman more than a decade ago has been refused bail by a London court as he fights extradition to the East African country for trial.
Robert James Purkiss, 38, has been on remand since his arrest earlier this month by the UK National Crime Agency in Tidworth, Wiltshire, after the Kenyan authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in September.
On Monday, prosecutors told Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where Purkiss is facing extradition proceedings, that he confessed to at least one fellow soldier that he killed Agnes Wanjiru in March 2012.
Wanjiru, a 21-year-old mother of a five-month-old baby, was found in a septic tank near the Lions Court Hotel in Nanyuki, the town that hosts the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK). She had reportedly spent the night partying with British soldiers, and a postmortem recorded a stab wound and other injuries.
Joel Smith, a lawyer representing Kenyan prosecutors, said Purkiss showed one soldier the septic tank where Wanjiru’s body was later discovered and later told another soldier that he killed her after “sex that went wrong,” Reuters reported.
The ex-soldier, however, “vehemently denies” the charges and has received funding from Britain’s Ministry of Defense toward his legal costs, according to British media.
Last week, Purkiss told the Daily Mail that he “did not kill Agnes Wanjiru.”
“I do not believe I ever met her either, neither would I joke about killing a woman. I only heard about the incident weeks later when I was on a military exercise in Canada,” he added.
The case has strained relations between Nairobi and London. In November 2023, BATUK asked the Kenyan High Court to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction. However, in September, the UK Defense Ministry pledged to help Wanjiru’s family receive justice.
BATUK has for decades faced allegations of abuse in Kenya, including torture, sexual violence, and environmental damage. In August, the UK agreed to pay £2.9 million ($3.77 million) in compensation to be shared among thousands of locals affected by a 2021 wildfire which was sparked during an army training exercise in Lolldaiga.
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