Kenneth Law: Canadian who allegedly sold poison to Britons won’t face justice in UK | UK News

A Canadian man accused of selling lethal substances linked to the deaths of more than 100 British people will not face justice in the UK.

Kenneth Law, 60, is due to appear in court in Ontario later today.

He is accused of aiding suicide after allegedly selling 1,200 packages across 40 countries.

A National Crime Agency investigation into Canada-based websites selling substances to assist with suicide found 286 individuals received packages in the UK, leading to 112 deaths.

But the NCA and Crown Prosecution Service have written to bereaved families to tell them they would not be seeking to extradite him to the UK after legal proceedings in Canada have concluded.

In the letter, sent on Thursday, they also said Canadian authorities had confirmed Law is expected to plead guilty to charges of aiding suicide there.

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The letter reads: “After careful assessment, we agreed that Mr Law should be sentenced for the full extent of his offending within a single sentencing process in Canada.

“This approach is not unusual in cases involving serious offending that crosses international borders.

“We recognise that this may be painful to hear, and that some victims and bereaved families may have hoped to see a separate prosecution in England and Wales.

“This difficult decision was reached only after detailed consideration of all available options.”

In the letter, they added it had been established that Law sent 330 products to the UK in total.

The families of those who died have now called for a public inquiry.

The sister of Aimee Walton, a 21-year-old from Southampton who died in 2022, said “doors have been shut” for families seeking justice.

Adele Zeynep Walton said: “The question for our own country is simpler still – who here will examine how the British state let this happen, and what it will do so that no other family goes through it?

“A foreign sentencing hearing cannot answer that. Only a statutory public inquiry can.”

David Parfett, the father of philosophy student Thomas Parfett, who died aged 22 after taking his own life in Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey, said: “I am angry, but I am not surprised. For months, we have been told that the system is working and that existing measures are enough. They are not.

“If our own country will not put anyone on trial for these deaths, the very least it can do is hold a proper inquiry into how they were allowed to happen.”

Law was also investigated by police in the US, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK.