Britain’s National Crime Agency said the suspect, a former soldier, was arrested by specialist officers on Thursday.
Published November 7, 2025
A former British soldier wanted by Kenyan authorities has appeared in a London court after being arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman near a British Army training camp in East Africa more than a decade ago.
In September, Kenya issued an arrest warrant and demanded the extradition of a British national over the murder of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru near a British army training camp in 2012, an incident that has strained relations between the two countries.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Wanjiru was discovered in the septic tank of the Lions Court Hotel in the Kenyan town of Nanyuki in 2012 and was last seen at the hotel with a group of British soldiers.
A Kenyan magistrate concluded in a 2019 inquest that she was killed by soldiers, and in September Kenya formally requested the suspect’s extradition.
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said the suspect, a former soldier, was arrested by specialist officers on Thursday after a warrant was issued.
“Robert James Purkiss, 38, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today to begin extradition proceedings,” the NCA said in a statement on Friday.
“He was remanded in custody until his next appearance in the same court on November 14.”
The delay in securing justice has sparked outrage in Kenya, where Wanjiru’s family and rights groups say the killers are protected by a defense cooperation agreement that complicates prosecutions of British soldiers training in Kenya.
Wanjiru, a single mother with a four-month-old baby at the time, was likely still alive when she was beaten, stabbed and thrown into the septic tank, a magistrate said in a 2019 autopsy report.
Mr Purkis’ lawyer, David Joss, said his client “strongly denies” murder and had received funding from the UK Ministry of Defense to pay for his defence.
The case has been a source of controversy between Kenyan authorities and Britain’s former Conservative government, resulting in a years-long stalemate.
Mr Purkis, a married father of two, told Westminster Magistrates Court in London that he did not consent to extradition, the Press Association news agency reported.
Labor, which ousted the Conservatives from power in an election last July, has pledged to support Kenya’s investigation and to “secure a resolution to this case.”
Since Kenya gained independence in 1963, Britain has maintained a permanent army base near Nanyuki, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital Nairobi.
The British Army Training Corps in Kenya is an economic lifeline for many people in Nanyuki, but it has faced criticism over allegations of misconduct by soldiers and injuries to civilians from unexploded ordnance.
