British Soldiers Accused of Decades-long Sexual Abuse Against Kenyan Civilians

By: Lily Hatch

On Wednesday, the 3rd December 2025, the Kenyan Parliament’s Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations released a 94-page report into the conduct of the British Army Training Unit of Kenya (BATUK) troops. BATUK is a major British military training facility based in Nanyuki, Kenya; However, as Kenya’s report shows, their presence has increasingly become seen as an occupying force by locals. The Unit faces serious accusations of decades of sexual abuse, murder, human rights violations and environmental destruction following a two-year investigation.

The investigation was led by testimonials from nearby communities in Laikipia and Samburu, in which victims recounted harrowing stories of abuse from the British soldiers by way of both oral and written submissions. It has been noted by the committee that BATUK did not cooperate with the parliamentary investigation; however, since the publication of the report, the UK High Commission of Kenya has stated they are prepared to investigate “new allegations” to bring justice to affected civilians.

The report found that there has been a “disturbing trend” of sexual misconduct amongst the soldiers, including rape, assault, and the neglect of children fathered through such violent actions. Hundreds of Kenyan women have filed reports of rape and sexual assault against BATUK soldiers, met with little to no form of justice in return. The report specifically recounts an atrocious incident from 1997 in which 30 women were gang-raped at knifepoint, some of whom were in their own homes. The perpetrators in this instance were never arrested nor even attempted to be prosecuted.

Similarly, the report cites the case from 2012 of Agnes Wanjiru, a woman found dead in a septic tank in close proximity to the BATUK camp following a night in a bar with friends, in which British Soldiers had also been present. Under an investigation in 2018, it was discovered that either one or two British soldiers had been her killers, and, in 2021, a Sunday Times report found that a member of BATUK had admitted to his colleagues to the murder of Wanjiru. Only 15 years on from her death, on the 6th November 2025, ex-soldier Robert Purkiss was arrested on suspicion of her murder, though he denies all allegations made against him.

These cases are only two of the hundreds in which women, men, and children have testified to the brutal assault of British soldiers, whether on behalf of themselves or on behalf of a family member, in the instances in which they were then murdered by BATUK troops.

Alongside this, there are significant accusations that the British training camp is also violating Kenyan environmental laws, forgoing the legally required environmental and social impact assessments for their field exercises. This has directly resulted in chemical damage to the surrounding area, notably through the expelling of white phosphorus gas, which has transpired into residents reporting respiratory issues, miscarriages, and the death of livestock that they rely on for a living, all as a result of the toxic fumes from the military waste.

Though the report comes as a relative surprise to some, it cannot be said that such allegations don’t reflect a recurring pattern throughout the history of the British Armed Forces. In 2009, Human Rights lawyer Phil Siner represented 33 cases of alleged rape and torture of Iraqi civilians by British Soldiers, both male and female. In one case, a 16-year-old boy claimed he was raped by two British soldiers in 2003 - stripped naked, abused, and photographed for sexual humiliation. Moreover, Siner insisted that hundreds of other similar cases went untold and unrepresented on behalf of scared, repressed Iraqi people.

A similar story can be said for within the forces themselves. A recent survey of 90,000 UK military personnel revealed that two-thirds of military women experienced sexualised behaviour, including harassment and groping. It found that female soldiers were twice as likely to experience the behaviour as men, despite making up only 12% of the UK Armed Forces.

In response, the UK High Commission has launched an investigation of its own into the matter, finding considerable gaps in its existing defence cooperation agreement with Kenya, citing that, as just one example, the offence of murder was not officially listed as an action outside of official duty for the soldiers. The panel noted that this was a “significant obstacle to justice” and has suggested that the military agreement be amended to a zero-tolerance set of rules against gender violence, environmental regulations, and civilian protections. However, many remain sceptical of the extent to which the UK parliament will hold perpetrators to account, in both past and future cases, considering the lack of address to past cases of such misconduct, let alone similar issues found within the forces themselves.

As the case progresses, the extent to which the UK is willing to tackle the problem at hand will become clearer. For the time being, however, the families of those who have suffered can only hope their loved ones receive the justice they rightfully deserve, and that precautions will be taken to prevent such suffering in the future.

Image: The Guardian