Money at the centre of Briton Campbell Scott's murder, probe shows

The men behind the murder of a British national, whose body was discovered dumped in Makongo Forest, Makueni County, could have been motivated by money.

Whereas Campbell Scott Alistair may have ventured into friendship with the assailants thinking all was well, the suspects were aiming at his bank accounts.

This is after detectives discovered withdrawal money from his accounts long after he had died.

”The preliminary investigations reveal that after there were several successful attempts of withdrawal of money from deceased persons account within Nairobi, Voi and Mombasa,” the police said in court documents.

A Nairobi Chief Magistrate court on Monday allowed the Director of Criminal Investigations to detain two suspects linked to the murder of Scott.

Alex Mutua Kithuka and Albinus Mutinda Nzioki were arrested on March 1 in connection with the killing of Scott, a British businessman who had been reported missing.

Scott, 58, was a senior director with data analytics company Fico.

Investigations reveal the deceased and the suspects met at the Havana Club in Westlands for drinks and merrymaking.

They met twice at the club before a decision was made that Scott would visit them at their residence in Pipeline, oblivious to the dangers lying ahead.

Magistrate Lucas Onyina was informed that Scott was last seen on February 16, 2025, at JW Marriott Hotel in Westlands, Nairobi, in the company of an unidentified African male.

Later, CCTV footage placed him at Havana’s Club in Westlands before he allegedly left for the Pipeline area in a ride-hailing taxi, where he is believed to have been murdered.

He was seen dining with the two men and another one who is yet to be found.

 Police visited the club and interrogated waiters and management as part of the probe into the murder.

It was then that it was established that the victim and his two friends left the club in a taxi.

On reaching Pipeline aboard a taxi, the two men paid the driver and left him about 100 meters away from a residence where they stayed.

This was meant to throw the investigators off balance in case of a probe.

According to investigators, at the house, there was a disagreement which went physical.

Scott was beaten up and strangled as the assailants sought to have pins to his cards.

It is also suspected he was drugged to enhance their plans. A toxicology report will reveal more on this, police said.

The police said postmortem was done on February 27 2025, by Dr Richard Njoroge and Dr. Samuel Omuok, government pathologists whose opinion on the cause of death was to be ascertained after toxicology and histology.

Samples were taken during the autopsy for DNA, toxicology and histology analysis.

The killers then got hold of his mobile phone and credit cards before they sent one of the accomplices to make the first withdrawal at a dispensary in the area.

It was then that they got a car to transport the body to the scene where it was discovered.

They then drove to Voi and later Mombasa, where they withdrew more money.

They also planned to leave Mombasa for Lungalunga before police trailed and arrested them on Saturday, March 1.

 It is believed they planned to flee to Tanzania for a while as the pressure on the issue cooled, investigators say.

They had withdrawn more than Sh2 million, officials say.

The withdrawals enabled police to trace the suspects to Voi and Mombasa, where they were arrested.

The team is yet to get the deceased’s mobile phone and credit cards. They said they are making good progress in their probe and hope to get more suspects in the murder.

“His phone and credit cards are yet to be recovered. Due to the seriousness of the case, the applicant is apprehensive that if released on bail at this time, they will not attend court,” the court was told.

The investigation team has interviewed several witnesses on the last movements of the deceased and confirmed that he jetted into the country on February 15 2025, and was booked at JW Marriot Hotel, Westlands.

The preliminary investigations have revealed that the deceased person was taken to Pipeline at a house belonging to Kithuka, where it is believed the deceased person was murdered and the body was disposed of in Makongo forest.

Both his hands and legs were tightly tied with a green nylon rope, police said.

The deceased businessman was scheduled to meet officials from the UK, US and several African countries about markets for their new products.