Healey pledges ‘support’ for probe into soldier’s alleged murder of Kenyan woman

The UK will do “everything we can” to support the investigation into the alleged murder of a Kenyan woman by a former British soldier, the Defence Secretary has said.

John Healey made the commitment after discussing the case of Agnes Wanjiru with her niece, Esther Njoki, on Tuesday.

Ms Wanjiru’s body was found in a septic tank near the British Army’s training base in Nanyuki, Kenya, in 2012, two months after the 21-year-old had disappeared.

Her alleged murderer was named in September this year as Robert James Purkiss, a former soldier, and a warrant has been issued in Kenya for his arrest.

This week, Ms Njoki travelled to the UK to seek assurances from the Defence Secretary that Purkiss “will be extradited in Kenya to face the law there”.

Tuesday’s meeting was their second, after Mr Healey met Ms Njoki in Kenya earlier this year.

He said he had reiterated the Government’s “steadfast support for her family’s long and painful fight for justice” and paid tribute to her as an “extraordinary spokesperson for her family and for women who have suffered violence”.

Mr Healey said: “Our Government will continue to do everything we can to support the Kenyan investigation, secure a resolution to this case and finally bring peace to Esther and her grieving family.”

Ms Njoki said the loss of her aunt had “left a permanent scar on my family”, as had “the years of silence, frustration and trauma we’ve endured trying to get justice since”.

She said the decision to charge Purkiss had given her family “a renewed sense of hope”, but added they were “still far from achieving justice for Agnes”.

She said: “That’s why this meeting with the Secretary of State is crucial.

“We are urging him and the Government to do everything in their power to ensure the man arrested is extradited to Kenya and faces trial without further delay.”

Earlier, Ms Njoki had told the PA news agency she also wanted to see changes in the “internal systems of the Army”, saying the military “could have done something, but they failed”.