A former British soldier facing extradition to Kenya accused of murdering a young mother has broken his silence to insist he is innocent.
Robert Purkiss, 38, is alleged to have stabbed Agnes Wanjuri, 21, to death before dumping her part-naked body in a septic tank.
The sickening crime was supposedly covered up by Purkiss’ chain of command for over a decade, resulting in a furious diplomatic row between Kenya and the UK.
In September, a Kenyan court ordered Purkiss’ arrest and extradition so he can face trial for killing Ms Wanjuri, a prostitute working near a military training area.
Last month, her family flew to London, where Defence Secretary John Healey assured them of the UK’s ‘steadfast support for their fight for justice’.
Purkiss has until now never spoken publicly about the incident and its aftermath, which has been hugely traumatic for his supportive wife and their two children, who live in Wiltshire.
He is currently being held on remand at a London prison after being refused bail at an extradition hearing earlier this month. He told magistrates he ‘vehemently denies’ the allegation.
Robert, wearing the formal attire of the Lancashire Regiment, and Kelly Purkiss on their wedding day. She insisted her husband is innocent and will be vindicated.
Agnes Wanjuri, 21, was found murdered near a British training base in Kenya in June 2012, three months after her disappearance. Robert Purkiss is facing extradition over her murder. He ‘vehemently denies’ the charge.
Now, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail from prison, he has rejected the allegations and challenged other soldiers’ accounts that put him in the frame.
He is accused of confessing to her murdering her, allegedly joking with colleagues on their journey back to base that he killed ‘a brass’ because ‘the sex was bad’.
But Purkiss told the Mail: ‘I did not kill Agnes Wanjuri, I do not believe I ever met her either. Neither would I joke about killing a woman – that conversation has no basis in reality.
‘I only heard about the incident weeks later when I was on a military exercise in Canada. Only much later than that was I told a body had been found in a tank.
‘I never booked the hotel room, can’t remember ever being in it. I think we were back in camp by midnight.
‘I was a medic, I’ve treated people on the battlefield. 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.
‘There is no basis in fact to any suggestion I murdered Agnes Wanjuri. I am sorry if that is hard for her family to hear, but it was not me.’
Ms Wanjuri’s remains were found in the grounds of a hotel popular with off-duty soldiers in June 2012, three months after her disappearance. She was a mother-of-one with a baby.
According to police reports, she was last seen socialising with British troops on the night of March 31, 2012.
A hotel manager told investigators she left the bar accompanied by two soldiers and entered hotel room D1, close to the septic tank.
A night guard and a guest claimed they heard a woman screaming, according to reports.
That night, troops from Purkiss’ unit, Arnhem Company, Second Battalion the Lancashire Regiment (2 Lancs), had booked a room intent on paying prostitutes for their time.
Agnes Wanjuri’s niece Esther Njoki has campaigned for justice on her behalf and has held talks in London with UK Defence Secretary John Healey.
The Purkiss family, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, on holiday at Disneyland. The former soldier, now an IT consultant, has been behind bars since being denied bail earlier this month.
The brutal nature of Ms Wanjuri’s death shook her community in Nanyuki, 124 miles north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, and sparked nationwide outrage.
Since her death the circumstances of what happened have slowly been pieced together – there is circumstantial evidence but no forensic evidence, such as a weapon or bloodied clothes, or witnesses to the murder.
Earlier this month, Purkiss, who has left the Army and now runs a successful IT company, was arrested in the middle of the night and driven to Westminster Magistrates’ Court for the extradition hearing.
Purkiss, a medic who served multiple tours of Afghanistan and received an official commendation for his service, before being medically discharged, said the evidence against him would be dismissed by a British court.
But the former corporal fears there will only be one verdict should he be extradited to Kenya for a ‘show trial’.
He continued: ‘For the sake of my family I try to stay positive but it is bloody hard.
‘Whatever people say about squaddies, I don’t believe any of us would cover up something as serious as the murder of a woman. None of this makes sense.’
In the absence of forensic evidence or direct witnesses to Ms Wanjuri’s murder, the Kenyan bid to extradite Purkiss hinges primarily on the account of another soldier, Liam Hendry.
Purkiss is alleged to have brought Hendry, then also a soldier in 2 Lancs, to see Ms Wanjuri’s bloodied body.
But Purkiss told the Mail Hendry, from Accrington, Lancashire, was a heavy drinker with a reputation for telling tales.
It can be revealed that Hendry, now 35, became a drug addict after leaving the Army and has been jailed several times for prolific shoplifting.
The Purkiss family on a trekking holiday. Their elder son recently joined the military. Kelly is also a veteran.
Last year, when he appeared before Blackburn magistrates and pleaded guilty to 13 charges of theft from stores, his solicitor Damien Pickup told the court how he previously served in the Army for 12 years, including Afghanistan and Kenya.
While earlier this year, Hendry was arrested over 21 separate shoplifting offences and four breaches of a Criminal Behaviour Order. He appeared before Preston magistrates in July 2025 and received a 52-week sentence.
In a court hearing the previous year, 2024, Hendry’s solicitor said he turned to crime to fund a drug habit after being discharged.
Damien Pickup also appeared to refer to Ms Wanjuri’s death, telling the court: ‘Something happened in Kenya which caused him a lot of anguish and he left the Army.
‘At the age of 33 he committed his first criminal offence and things have exploded since then. There is a lack of support out there for people like him who have served their country with honour.’
The Mail approached Mr Pickup for comment on behalf of Hendry. He failed to respond.
A second witness in the case, William Nelson, has provided a statement saying he heard Purkiss and Hendry joking about ‘killing a brass’ as they were driven back to camp.
Mr Nelson only claims to have overheard their drunken conversation and does not suggest he saw Ms Wanjuri’s body.
Their company commander, then-Major Paul Tingey, since promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, has also been questioned. He claims he knew nothing about the Agnes Wanjuri incident and only learned about it from media reports.
Purkiss’ wife Kelly has been left traumatised by allegations that her husband brutally murdered Ms Wanjuri and disposed of her body in a brutal manner.
She told the Mail how she sat down her husband with their 11-year-old son and questioned him about the incident.
Mrs Purkiss, a former Army Warrant Officer, met Purkiss when they were both serving.
Her older son from a previous relationship recently joined the Royal Marines and Purkiss attended his passing out parade at the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, Devon, just days before his arrest.
Mrs Purkiss, 41, said: ‘One of the reasons I discharged from the Army was the stress of the claims against Robert. I know my husband and he would not have killed her or slept with her.
‘He’s not like that. Robert is a medic, his job was to save people not kill people.
‘When this came out we did sit together with our son and he asked Robert about it, because we were worried about him being bullied if other pupils read the reports.
‘Our son asked him, “Dad, did you do it?” Robert was very calm and said, “No son, I didn’t, and I would never put any of you through something like this.” Our son said, “that’s good enough for me Dad”.’
James Purkiss with his wife Kelly on their wedding day. He has rejected the allegations and challenged other soldiers’ accounts that put him in the frame
Ms Wanjuri’s family are convinced the murder was covered up by the British Army.
Following Purkiss’ arrest and court appearance, her niece Esther Njoki welcomed the progress in the case.
She said in a statement earlier this month: ‘My family is incredibly relieved to hear that the suspect in my aunt’s case has been arrested.
‘We have waited so many years for this moment which marks an important step towards finally obtaining justice for our beloved Agnes.’
An inquest into Ms Wanjuri’s death was opened in Kenya in 2018. The following year a Kenyan court concluded she had been unlawfully killed by British soldiers and that she suffered stab wounds to the abdomen and chest.
The claim that a British soldier had confessed the murder to colleagues emerged in 2021, although Purkiss was only later named as the suspect.
In 2024, the British Army announced a review into the conduct of British soldiers in Kenya, based on the Wanjuri case and the launch of legal action by Kenyans claiming to have been fathered by UK troops.
The review found 35 suspected cases of soldiers having engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse, including transactional sex with local women. Nine of these cases came after the Army banned troops from using prostitutes in 2022.
An MOD spokesman said: ‘It would be inappropriate to comment while there are ongoing legal proceedings.’
