Overview
- Esther Njoki, 21, is in London and will meet Defence Secretary John Healey on Tuesday to seek assurance that the suspect will be extradited and to push for changes within the Army, including compensation for Agnes Wanjiru’s daughter.
- Kenyan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant in September naming Robert James Purkiss over the alleged 2012 murder in Nanyuki, and authorities have signalled an extradition request though the legal process has not yet begun.
- An inquest found Wanjiru was unlawfully killed, and a post-mortem concluded she died from stab wounds to the chest and abdomen, with evidence of beating and no clear finding on sexual assault.
- The Ministry of Defence says it remains committed to helping secure justice; it banned soldiers from soliciting sex overseas in November 2022, and an internal inquiry recorded low-to-moderate violations in Kenya.
- Local advocates report British soldiers still pay for sex in Nanyuki, increasingly through Airbnbs, prompting calls from Njoki for tighter restrictions on soldiers’ movements off base.