Harrowing details of the deaths of a Canadian poison seller’s UK victims have been read to a court, including one who told emergency services he did not want to die.
Kenneth Law appeared in court in Ontario, Canada, on Friday where he formally entered guilty pleas to 14 counts of aiding suicide, all relating to Canadian victims.
The 60-year-old sold lethal substances to victims across the world, including 330 packages sent to the UK.
The court heard Law was the sole owner of four companies, with one firm’s website offering a “set of instructions” and advertising 40-minute telephone consultations for 150 dollars (£111).
The site also showed a “testimonial” from the estate of someone who had killed themself to prove the “efficacy” of his products.
The court also heard how Law would occasionally frequent an online forum where users discussed ending their lives, where he would post under the pseudonym “Greenberg” to direct people to one of his websites.
The maximum sentence for aiding suicide in Canada is 14 years – the same as for encouraging suicide in the UK.
It is understood that the sentence in this case is likely to be more than 14 years because of the number of victims and the nature of the offences.
One of his British victims, Tom Windsor, told police he used the substance sold by Law and was found unconscious by emergency services with his phone still in his hand connected to the 999 call.
The court heard that he told the call operator he did not want to die and appeared to be panicking before paramedics arrived 26 minutes later.
Another British victim, a 43-year-old woman, died in July 2021 after her four-year-old daughter asked the woman’s husband where she was.
The court heard he took her to the living room, where they found his wife “slumped over their daughter’s dollhouse”.
One of Law’s victims died 12 days after a visit from South Wales Police, who were performing a wellness check when the woman refused to give officers the poisonous substance.
Danielle Cornish, 29, told officers she had no intention of killing herself and police took no action, but she died 12 days later, on August 22 2022, after she became unconscious during a call to emergency services, in which she admitted taking the product sold by Law.
A number of Law’s British victims had a history of mental health issues, but one man named Oliver Wade, who had no record of physical or mental health issues, killed himself three days after his mother died of cancer, the court heard.
A UK police force wrote to Law in April 2022 to inform him his company’s packaging had been found at the scene of someone who had ended their life – with the Canadian replying that he was “surprised and saddened” to learn that “one of our products” was involved in a police investigation.
He told the officer that in light of their note, “we intend to end our sale of this product as soon as our inventory is depleted”.
Business cards were found at Law’s residence following his arrest, which claimed one of his companies was “a proponent of the Dying with Dignity movement”, the court heard.
The business cards, found during a police search at his address in Mississauga, Ontario, in May 2023, also asked buyers: “We would appreciate the disposal of all traces linking to the company, so we may continue our mission without interference. Thank you.”
The National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said all 79 UK victims who died as a direct result of purchasing Law’s products would form part of the wider case into his offending.
Authorities informed the victims’ families that Law would not face criminal proceedings in the UK because of the potential for the hotel cook to challenge the extradition after being convicted of similar offences in Canada.
After his Canadian convictions, British prosecutors described Law as a “serial offender who callously exploited many vulnerable and innocent people exchanging their lives for his financial gain”.
He sold 1,200 packages to 40 countries across the world from Canada-based websites, with 286 people in the UK receiving products, leading to 112 deaths.
Some 330 products were sent to the UK, one to the Isle of Man and 12 to Ireland, the court heard.
Explaining why the UK victims would be taken into the Canadian case, a letter to bereaved families from the NCA and the CPS read: “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.”
The senior investigating officer at the NCA, Damon Hayes, told reporters that including British victims in the Canadian case “guarantees all victims and families in the UK will see justice”.
He added: “This approach is not unusual in cases involving serious offending that crosses international borders.
“This will allow the judge to take into account the full extent of Law’s criminal behaviour, including the fact that his actions resulted in the deaths of people in this country.”
Victims’ families criticised the move, with one bereaved father saying: “I am angry but not surprised.”
David Parfett, father of philosophy student Thomas Parfett, who died aged 22 in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, said: “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.”
The sister of 21-year-old Aimee Walton, 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.”
Since opening its investigation in April 2023, the NCA has worked with 45 police forces across the UK to gather evidence on Law’s offending.
Specialist CPS prosecutor Andrew Hudson told reporters “no victim has been left behind as part of this process”, adding that including British victims will “ensure that the full devastating extent of his criminal conduct is seen and considered by the sentence in court”.
Law was also investigated by police in the US, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.
His sentencing hearing will begin at the same court on September 23 and will take place over the course of four days.
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