Why Canadian who admitted aiding ‌suicide by selling ‌deadly chemicals online won't face justice in UK

A Canadian man accused of selling ‌deadly chemicals online to people who took their own lives has pleaded guilty ​to aiding ‌suicide.

Kenneth Law sold the lethal substances across the world, and his products were linked to the deaths of 112 people in the UK.

The 60-year-old was ⁠facing 14 counts ⁠of aiding suicide, all relating to Canadian victims.

He pleaded guilty ⁠under an agreement with ​prosecutors that would see ​murder charges withdrawn.

Law will not be tried in the UK, because prosecutors fear a court may reject his extradition under "double jeopardy" laws - because he will have already been convicted of similar offences in another country.

Specialist Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Andrew Hudson said including UK victims in the Canadian sentencing process was the "quickest and most effective route" to securing justice.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said 79 UK victims who died as a direct result of purchasing Law's products will form part of the wider case into his offending.

British prosecutors said Law was 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 from Canada-based websites, with 286 individuals in the UK receiving the products.

In a letter to bereaved families, the NCA and CPS said it had been established that Law sent 330 products to the UK in total.

Explaining why the UK victims would be taken into the Canadian case, the letter said: "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 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."

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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.

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