Police are following crucial leads involving a mobile phone, a SIM card and money trails left behind by suspects involved in the mysterious death of Briton Campbell Scott and bring those involved to book.
Two suspects – Alex Mutua and Albunus Mutinda arrested last weekend in connection with the murder case – will remain in custody for the next three weeks following a court’s nod during their arraignment yesterday.
Submitting their application before Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina at the Milimani Law Courts yesterday, detectives revealed that their probe indicated Scott was murdered at a house in Pipeline, Nairobi.
“Preliminary investigations have revealed that the deceased person was taken to Pipeline [estate] at a house belonging to Mr Mutua, where it is believed the deceased was murdered and [his] body disposed of in Makongo Forest,” police documents read.
The detectives are also keen on finding if there was a commercial motive behind the murder, with their investigations showing several successful and attempted withdrawals of money from Scott’s account in Nairobi, Voi and Mombasa shortly after he disappeared.
Through mobile phone triangulation and interrogation of witnesses, the police tracked the Uber driver who took the Briton to Mutua’s house in Pipeline.
Missing British national Campbell Scott, who arrived in Kenya on February 14, 2024 to attend a three-day conference.
Photo credit: Pool
However, the suspects were not found in Pipeline, with the police raid at the house leaving them puzzled because by then, Mutua had already evacuated his household goods and taken them to an unknown destination.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Onyina, prosecution counsel Joyce Olajo convinced court to allow them hold two suspects, Mr Mutua and Mr Mutinda, for 21 days in police custody.
She told the Chief Magistrate that investigators believe the duo had crucial information that would help in unravelling Scott’s death.
The court heard that Scott jetted into the country a day after Valentine’s on February 15, then booked into a hotel in Westlands, Nairobi. However, he went missing the following day and was last seen with an unidentified male African leaving Westlands on February 16.
“The suspect (Mutua) is believed to have removed the body of Campbell and transported it to an unknown place while he was moving his household goods and belongings from his Pipeline residence,” the prosecutor stated.
Eventually, the police located the duo. The court heard that they were eventually arrested last Saturday along the Nairobi-Machakos road, almost two weeks after Scott went missing.
A photo taken on February 24, 2025, showing a Makongo Forest signpost near the location where the body of Briton Campbell Scott was found.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
The prosecution argued that because of the seriousness of the matter, police were apprehensive that if the two suspects were released, they would sabotage investigations.
Police informed the court that they are still looking for other suspects who were involved in the murder. They also revealed that investigations were ongoing for the recovery of a handset and a Sim card that will help them arrest other suspects. As such, the prosecution requested to have the suspects detained for three weeks to enable detectives to conclude investigations before charges can be preferred.
In his ruling, Mr Onyina said the application by the DPP had met the required threshold to warrant the detention of the two suspects to assist police complete investigations. “The police have established there are good grounds to warrant the detention of the suspects for 21 days. The application is hereby allowed,” he ruled.
Mr Onyina directed the suspects be detained at Capitol Hill and Kilimani police stations before adding that the case be mentioned on March 24 for further directions.
Last week, a post-mortem conducted by Dr Richard Njoroge and Dr Samuel Omuok of the Government Chemist turned inconclusive. The duo said the exact cause of the Briton’s death would be determined after a toxicology and histology analysis.
Government pathologist Johansen Oduor explained that the head injuries and other minor injuries noted on Scott’s body were too minimal to have caused his death.
A screengrab of footage from a security camera in Westlands on February 17, 2025, shows Scott in the company of an unidentified man.
Photo credit: Pool
“Head injury and multiple soft tissue injuries...blunt trauma...Though just to clarify, the injuries as per the pathologists looked too minor to cause death. So they have taken samples to further investigate,” Dr Oduor said.
The deceased had travelled to Kenya on February 15 for a product launch by Fico and was booked at JW Marriott Hotel in Westlands. A day later, at about 11.15am, Scott was seen leaving the hotel. He had visited Havana Bar & Restaurant on the last two days he was seen alive and was in the company of an unidentified man before he vanished, only to resurface eight days later – lifeless in Makongo Forest .
