Brian Kiprop Kipglagat, the boyfriend of a banking executive beaten to death in her south-east London flat, has been arrested after more than a year on the run.
Immigration officers detained Kipglagat, the subject of a 16-month international manhunt, on June 10 as he attempted to enter Tanzania from Namanga, a southern Kenyan border town.
His girlfriend, Marianne Kilonzi, a 43-year-old vice-president at Citibank, was found in her Woolwich home with injuries to her head on Jan 17 last year.
Kipglagat is now facing extradition to the UK in connection with her death.
Undercover police tracked movements
He is believed to have been living in Kenya for some time and attempted to travel to Tanzania on a temporary permit.
However, undercover police had been tracking his movements. Kenyan officers took him into custody at the request of the Metropolitan Police.
A post-mortem examination found that Ms Kilonzi had died from a blunt force trauma injury to the head.
Neighbours at the Royal Arsenal Riverside development, where average property prices reach £442,000, reportedly heard “blood-curdling screams” on the day of her death.
Scotland Yard mounted a search for her alleged killer, and detectives quickly established that the suspect had fled abroad.
According to an online CV for Ms Kilonzi, she attended Kenyatta University in Nairobi before joining Citibank Kenya in 2006.
She rose to vice-president for treasury and trade solutions there before the company transferred her to Britain in June 2023.
A spokesman for the company said at the time of her death: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. Our thoughts are with Marianne’s family and friends during this difficult time.”
Kipglagat appeared at Milimani law courts in Nairobi on June 12 for a hearing in relation to the alleged murder.
Suspect ‘has no fixed abode’
He allegedly described his girlfriend’s death as a “misfortune” in a text message to one of her relatives after she was killed, prosecutors claimed.
The court heard that detectives believed he still had the phone he used to send the message and possessed false travel documents.
Joyce Olajo, the counsel for the prosecution, urged the presiding senior principal magistrate to deny Mr Kipglagat bail and remand him into the custody of Kenya’s anti-terrorism police unit.
She told the court that Mr Kipglagat “has no fixed abode, having been moved between different locations within the country,” according to Kenya’s Daily Record newspaper.
Kenyan prosecutors are awaiting a formal extradition request from British authorities.
The Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service declined to confirm or deny the status of the extradition or investigation, citing “operational sensitivities.”
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
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