Former British soldier accused of Kenyan woman’s murder denied bail again

Robert James Purkiss is wanted in Kenya over the killing of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru, which he denies.

He was arrested in early November and is contesting his extradition to the east African country.

On Wednesday at the High Court, Ms Justice Norton refused a further application for his bail after identifying a “worrying pattern of behaviour”.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court last month, he was denied bail despite offering a £15,000 security fee, with Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring concerned that he could “cause harm to another either physically or mentally”.

Read more: Ex-British soldier accused of Kenya septic tank murder insists he is innocent

Read more: British ex-soldier accused of murdering woman after body found in septic tank in Kenya named

Ms Justice Norton said Purkiss was on a six-week training exercise in early 2012 when he went on a “drinking spree”, ending up at the Lions Court hotel in the town of Nanyuki, Kenya.

She said Ms Wanjiru’s body was found in a septic tank nearby with stab wounds to the abdomen.

Purkiss denies killing Ms Wanjiru and told the Daily Mail newspaper last month that he had never met her and only heard about the incident weeks later.

In an apparent confession, Purkiss is said to have told a colleague, “it was sex that went wrong”, a court heard previously.

At the hearing on Wednesday, Joel Smith KC, for the Kenyan authorities, said: “This cannot be said to be a confession concocted down the line because there are witnesses.

“There is a later confession when sober on base. So, not just one confession but two, and contemporaneous.”

The barrister also pointed to social media comments Purkiss and his colleagues had made years later.

He said: “What one can glean from the statements is that many years later, soldiers, including Mr Purkiss, were reminiscing about their time at the Lions Court hotel, and there were jokes made as to whether Mr Purkiss was feeling choked up about that.

“He replied not with outraged denial but, ‘Well, I have had a sore throat today’.”

David Josse KC, for Purkiss, said his client’s wife had been “thoroughly supportive of him in recent years”.

He told the court: “She was at Westminster Magistrates’ for the appearance before the senior district judge.

“She has provided various statements. She says they are a strong, loving couple.”

He also said that Purkiss was not likely to abscond because he knew his arrest warrant was imminent, but did not run away.

But Ms Justice Norton denied Purkiss bail, saying there are “strong grounds” to be concerned about “a worrying pattern of behaviour using significant violence in combination with alcohol”.

Purkiss will face a four-day extradition hearing on November 16 next year, the court heard.