Police searching for a British businessman missing in Kenya have recovered a body, found in a sack in scrubland about 60 miles from Nairobi, reports said.
Campbell Scott, 58, a senior director at the data analytics company Fico, went missing on 16 February after arriving in the Kenyan capital to attend a conference at the JW Marriott hotel.
The body was found by animal herders in the Makongo Forest, south-east of Nairobi, on Saturday, with initial investigations suggesting the deceased had been strangled.
The Nation Africa website reported that the body had been confirmed as that of Scott, originally from Dunfermline, by county police commander Alice Kimeli, and that a postmortem would be carried out at Makueni county referral hospital mortuary.
A taxi driver and nightclub waiter have been arrested on suspicion of abduction and murder, reports said.
Scott was reported missing by colleagues with whom he had been due to attend a three-day workshop beginning on 18 February, hosted by TransUnion, with senior officials from the UK, US and several African countries.
Local media reported Scott checked into his hotel room at around 1pm on Saturday 15 February and left an hour later. He returned at around 4pm. At about 11.15am on Sunday, Scott left the hotel again.
A colleague called Scott’s UK-registered phone number at around 6pm, but it was off. A missing person police report was filed on Sunday evening and a search began.
Capital News in Kenya reported that detectives from the country’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Scott was last seen at a club in the upmarket Westlands area of the city before he vanished.
DCI believe Scott visited a bar in the area the day before his disappearance and that he returned to the venue on the day he disappeared to meet a friend, before taking a taxi to Pipeline, one of the city’s biggest slums, shortly after 7pm. Police believe Scott was held at a house in Pipeline, possibly while his abductors attempted to siphon money from his bank accounts.
Scott’s professional profile says he joined Fico in 2014, from Experian UK. He is described as being responsible for global regulatory and compliance product management, based at the company’s London office. He studied at Woodmill high school in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy technical college.
Before the discovery of the body, Fico said they were working with local partners and authorities to investigate the matter.
They added: “Our thoughts are with Campbell’s family and friends. Please respect his privacy and do not speculate about this situation. If anyone has information that may be helpful regarding his whereabouts, please contact local authorities or the Metropolitan police.”
The Foreign Office was contacted for comment.
