A former British soldier is at the centre of an international legal battle, fighting extradition to Kenya over the alleged murder of a young woman more than a decade ago. Robert James Purkiss, 38, is currently being held on remand in a London prison after a judge refused him bail.
The Allegations and Court Evidence
Purkiss faces allegations concerning the death of Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old Kenyan hairdresser and mother. Wanjiru disappeared in March 2012 after a night out in Nanyuki, a town located near a British Army training camp. Her body was discovered two months later in a septic tank behind the Lions Court hotel.
An inquest held in Kenya in 2019 concluded that Wanjiru was murdered by British soldiers. The court was told she was last seen alive leaving the hotel in the company of a soldier.
During recent hearings at Westminster Magistrates' Court, prosecutors presented evidence against Purkiss. The court heard that a colleague of the accused reported seeing him crying outside the Lions Court hotel around the time of the alleged murder. When asked why he was upset, Purkiss is alleged to have said: “I’ve killed her.”
Further evidence presented suggested that in 2018, Purkiss responded with a “smiling face emoji” to a social media post by a colleague. The post featured a picture of the colleague outside the same hotel with the caption “if you know, you know”, which also referenced the septic tank.
Purkiss's Public Defence
In a public statement given to the Daily Mail from prison, Robert Purkiss has vehemently denied any involvement in the crime. “I did not kill Agnes Wanjiru. I do not believe I ever met her either. Neither would I joke about killing a woman,” he stated.
Purkiss, who served as an army medic, offered a potential alibi and a professional rebuttal. He claimed he only learned of the incident weeks later while on a military exercise in Canada and was unaware a body had been found until much later. He also stated that his unit was back in camp by midnight on the night in question.
Leveraging his medical background, he questioned the forensic plausibility of the accusation. “Agnes was stabbed in the abdomen. She would have lost a lot of blood. If I killed her and dumped her body, there would have been blood over my clothes and hands. There was none,” he told the newspaper.
He concluded by saying, “There is no basis in fact to any suggestion I murdered Agnes Wanjiru. I am sorry if that is hard for her family to hear, but it was not me.”
Legal Proceedings and Next Steps
The legal case has significant diplomatic implications between the UK and Kenya. Purkiss is receiving Ministry of Defence funding to help pay for his defence against the extradition request.
His legal team is continuing to fight his detention. A further bail application hearing is scheduled at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where his lawyers will again argue for his release pending the outcome of the extradition process.
