Nearly 14 years after 21-year-old Kenyan mother Agnes Wanjiru was found dead in a septic tank adjacent to a British military training facility in Nanyuki, a town roughly 200 kilometers north of Nairobi, her family has voiced fierce anger over a last-minute postponement of the extradition hearing for the former British soldier accused of her murder. The proceedings against 38-year-old Robert James Purkiss, which had been scheduled to take place in just three weeks’ time, have now been pushed back to May 2027, a timeline the family has denounced as entirely unacceptable. The family shared that they only learned of the delay via a notification from the British Embassy in Kenya, with no formal, detailed explanation provided by judicial authorities to date, even after they had already raised funds and finalized travel arrangements to attend the UK court hearing in person. “We have held onto patience and navigated unrelenting uncertainty for more than a decade, but now that patience is being exploited,” Esther Njoki, Wanjiru’s niece, told the BBC. “Agnes was taken from us far too soon and deserves full justice. Her now-teenage daughter Stacy, who was only five months old when her mother vanished, deserves clear, unobscured answers about what unfolded that night. Our entire family also deserves basic dignity and regular, transparent updates on legal processes that shape every part of our lives.” Wanjiru disappeared in March 2012 after an evening at a local hotel frequented by British troops stationed in the area for joint training operations. Her body was recovered nearly three months later from the hotel’s septic tank, with post-mortem examinations confirming she sustained fatal stab wounds to her chest and abdomen. A 2019 Kenyan inquest formally ruled that she had been unlawfully killed by one or two British service members. It was not until September 2025 that a Kenyan High Court issued an official arrest warrant for a British national, after prosecutors submitted corroborated evidence supporting formal murder charges. Purkiss was taken into custody in the UK last November and has since mounted a legal challenge against extradition to Kenya to stand trial, maintaining a full denial of the murder allegations. He appeared via video link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in February, where he was remanded in custody ahead of the now-postponed hearing. His legal team has confirmed their client intends to contest the extradition order in full. The family has issued an urgent public call to both UK and Kenyan judicial and diplomatic authorities to fast-track the long-stalled proceedings, warning that the new 2027 timeline will push the case into its 15th year without a single formal murder trial taking place. A UK court is scheduled to release the official documented rationale for the postponement early next week. The case has drawn public scrutiny after former UK Defence Secretary John Healey met Wanjiru’s family during an official visit to Kenya last year, publicly pledging the British government’s full support for efforts to deliver justice. A spokesperson for the UK government has stated that it remains committed to supporting the Wanjiru family, but declined to offer further comment on the grounds that the case is subject to active, ongoing legal processes.
Kenyan family protest extradition hearing delay of ex-British soldier accused of murdering kin
