British businessman charged with murder of woman at his Kenyan home

Former Deloitte executive Richard Alden pleaded not guilty to murder

Richard Alden has been charged with murder (Reuters)

A British businessman has been charged with murder after a Kenyan woman was shot dead at his home in Nairobi.

Richard Alden, 52, appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to murdering 42-year-old Grace Wangechi Kinyanjui, whose family said she had been shot in the back on 4 June at Alden’s property in the city’s Karen district.

A former lawyer for Alden, Evans Monari, had claimed Ms Kinyanjui had accidentally shot herself while taking a selfie with Alden’s gun, however the former Deloitte executive denied this claim and the lawyer is no longer working on his case.

The Alden family’s advocate, Tom Okundi, told The Telegraph: "The family of Richard Alden takes serious exception to the unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations concerning the circumstances surrounding the death of Ms Grace Wangeci.

"We wish to inform the general public that although Richard was today charged with the offence of murder, investigations are very much still ongoing. Therefore, it is premature to make any statement which at best may only be aimed at influencing the outcome of such investigations and prejudicing the outcome of the case.

"Richard has cooperated and continues to cooperate with the police in the investigation. We wish to request that the media and the public avoid speculation and allow the case to take its course."

Preliminary findings of the post-mortem suggested Ms Kinyanjui had suffered a broken thumb and stab wounds as well as indicating she had been shot in the back, the victim’s family said.

Married father-of-three Alden has been declared fit to stand trial and lawyers suggested they would challenge the report in court.