Four arrested over murder of Scottish businessman in Kenya
Four arrested over murder of Scottish businessman in Kenya
A Scottish businessman, Campbell Scott, 58, was found dead in a sack within Makongo Forest, approximately 60 miles (96.5km) from Nairobi, on 24 February last year. His body was discovered in the area where he had been staying. Kenyan detectives confirmed that four individuals were detained following an intelligence-driven, cross-agency operation in Ukunda, a coastal town about 16 miles (25.8 km) south of Mombasa.
Scott, hailing from Dunfermline in Fife, was a senior director at the credit scoring company FICO. He had traveled to Nairobi for a conference before going missing. His disappearance was reported after he failed to meet colleagues at the JW Marriott Hotel in the city’s Westlands district to deliver a presentation. The previous evening, he had visited the Havana nightclub, a detail that became part of the investigation.
Operation leads to arrests
The arrests were part of a broader inquiry into a violent robbery involving an American national in Nyali, near Mombasa. Initially, police questioned two suspects—a taxi driver and a nightclub attendant—believed to be the last people to see Scott alive. Two individuals were detained in March, and one has since appeared in court charged with murder. Investigators then sought three additional suspects, linking the case to multiple violent incidents.
“An operation was conducted by DCI officers from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CR&IB) Headquarters, working alongside SCCIO Nyali and SCCIO Msambweni (Ukunda) counterparts,” stated Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). “The suspects, Bernard Mbusu, Isaac Kinoti Kobia, Evans Muthengi Mutaki, and Kelvin Mwangi Njoroge, were apprehended at Ideal Apartments, Ukunda.”
The suspects were also connected to a robbery in Watamu, Malindi Sub-County, through forensic evidence. A search of their residence uncovered stolen goods, including an HP laptop, mobile devices, various foreign currencies, multiple credit cards, cheque books from different banks, and PDQ card readers.
A post-mortem examination of Scott’s body yielded inconclusive results, but pathologists noted that the injuries were insufficient to account for his death. Kenyan police previously indicated they believed Scott was taken to a property in the Pipeline district, a slum area roughly 9.3 miles (15km) from his hotel, where he was possibly held for financial extraction attempts.
