Former British soldier who was wanted for murder in Kenya was denied bail
Bail was denied Monday while extradition proceedings are ongoing for a former British soldier who is wanted in Kenya for the murder of a lady near a British army training camp over a dozen years ago.
A warrant for Robert Purkiss’ arrest was issued by Kenyan police in September after he is suspected of killing 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru in 2012 close to the army training camp.
Purkiss, who was taken into custody this month, “vigorously denies” any participation in Wanjiru’s death, according to what his attorneys told Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Purkiss’s fellow troops claim he confessed to the crime on the evening of Wanjiru’s murder and soon after, according to lawyers for the Kenyan government.
Relations between Britain and Kenya have been tense since Wanjiru’s murder. According to her family and human rights organizations, the perpetrators were protected by a defense cooperation agreement that makes it more difficult to prosecute British soldiers who are training in Kenya.
In September, the British Ministry of Defence stated that it was still dedicated to assisting Wanjiru’s family in obtaining justice.
A former soldier wanted for a murder in 2012
At the Lion’s Court Hotel in Nanyuki, Kenya, Wanjiru’s body was discovered in a sewage tank in June 2012. The last time Wanjir was spotted was on the evening of March 31 and April 1, 2012, with a party of British soldiers.
Joel Smith, an attorney for Kenyan prosecutors, claimed that Wanjiru had left her infant daughter in the care of a friend and had gone to the hotel with two friends.
“At about two o’clock in the morning, Ms Wanjiru left with one of the soldiers and as she left (told her friends) she was going to hustle for her daughter,” Smith claimed in court. “She was never seen alive again.”
According to Smith, Purkiss told another soldier that he killed Wanjiru during “sex that went wrong” and showed one soldier the septic tank in which Wanjiru’s body was later discovered.
According to Purkiss’s attorney David Josse, “there is no logical basis for saying that this man will run away.”
However, Purkiss was placed under detention by Judge Paul Goldspring until a hearing the following month. As Purkiss was escorted back to the cells, he nodded to his brother and wife in the public square.
