The innocuous-looking envelope arrived through the letterbox in a tiny packet that would fit within the palm of your hand. Nonetheless, the contents that landed on David Parfett’s Maidenhead doormat were anything but harmless. Contained in the plastic ziplock bag was 50 grams of a lethal white substance.
After looking intently at his delivery, David put it back into its Canadian-stamped packaging and stowed it safely in his loft. The poison, postage and packaging got here in at around $60CAD (roughly £30).
David had purchased the substance to try to know how difficult it will be to pay money for what killed his 22-year-old son, Tom. He found it disturbingly easy.
‘Tom was just a stunning one that saw the nice in people,’ David, 56, tells Metro. ‘Considered one of his teachers described him as having a tremendous moral compass. He was an incredibly intelligent man who I’m sure would have had a tremendous profession. I miss him dearly.’
Tom’s mother, Julia, described their son as a ‘wonderful young man with an infectious laugh’. Growing up with anxiety, autism, and obsessive-compulsive disorder meant Tom didn’t have it easy. His mental health severely faltered when his philosophy degree on the University of St Andrews was disrupted by the pandemic.
‘A detailed friend of one in all his best friends took his own life soon after starting university, and that was one in all the primary times I talked to him about it,’ remembers David, who works as an information director.
‘He was quite clear that he didn’t need to use a way that potentially could go flawed or leave him disabled. He said he wanted to seek out something that was painless, low-cost and reliable.
‘I used to be naive enough to think that it was unattainable, and subsequently, we had time to assist him. I’m pretty sure that he could be here today if he didn’t find that online.’
David and Julia separated 11 years ago, and Tom lived together with his dad for five years as a teen. They spoke frequently and had an in depth relationship. When Tom began battling suicidal thoughts, he sought mental health support, was prescribed antidepressants and moved closer to home. Around the identical time, he’d discovered suicide forums online where he was directed to a substance that he was told was effective and painless.
In October 2021, Tom, who had also tried to take his own life the month previously, checked right into a Premier Inn in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, ingested the small package of poison that he had ordered online and died.
‘Grief is sort of a person process, however it is difficult to maintain going. It’s hard to take into consideration the rest after losing Tom like that. There’s guilt and the thought – could we have now done any more to stop it,’says David, who shares his story in the brand new Channel 4 series, Poisoned: Killer within the Post.
A 12 months after his son’s death, David, who now lives in Twickenham, was going through the police notes to the coroner and noticed that the package containing the poison got here from an organization run by a Canadian chef, Kenneth Law, the identical name he’d seen on the stuff he’d ordered.
David went to the police with this information, but since the substance is legal to purchase, sell and export, they said they were unable to do anything. He then contacted a reporter called James Beal, who went undercover to request a phone consultation with Law.
The Times journalist claimed that in the course of the call, Law told him that he had sent his product to ‘a whole bunch’ of individuals within the UK and that he was doing ‘God’s work’. He also said he had arrange the business after seeing his mother suffer following a stroke – a claim that has not been verified – and urged James to purchase the poison in order that he has something ‘available.’
Shortly after the story was published, Kenneth Law was arrested. He’s now awaiting trial in Canada next 12 months, facing a complete of 14 first-degree murder charges and 14 counts of aiding and counselling suicide. His lawyer has said he might be pleading not guilty. At this point, forces across the UK were alerted that packages had been sent out and commenced visiting addresses, including David’s.
All of the costs are linked to the deaths of individuals from across Ontario aged 16 to 36, but he’s believed by the Canadian force to have sent greater than 1,200 so-called suicide kits to around 40 countries, including the UK.
The National Crime Agency are investigating potential criminal offences linked to the deaths of 97 individuals who purchased items to help with suicide online.
An NCA spokesperson said: ‘The National Crime Agency continues to analyze potential criminal offences linked to the deaths of people within the UK who purchased items to help with suicide from Canada-based web sites. Our investigation explores all viable leads linked to those web sites and a Canadian suspect with a view to discover evidence of crimes committed within the UK. Specialist officers proceed to offer support to victims and families.’
Assisting suicide is unlawful within the UK and Canada and is punishable by as much as 14 years in prison in each countries. Law’s web sites have been taken down, and he stays in custody. His trial is prone to be held in January next 12 months, where his lawyer, Matthew Gourlay, has said he’ll plead not guilty.
Meanwhile, suspected victims have been found across the globe; in France, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and Recent Zealand. Within the UK, packages have been present in Cumbria, Surrey, London, Plymouth and the Isle of Wight.
As the dimensions of Law’s alleged involvement in vulnerable people’s deaths emerged, David desired to do more to know and publicise the hazards, which is why he ordered the poison online. He was on holiday on the Isle of Wight when the police knocked on his door just a few days after the package arrived.
David’s youngest son, Harry, answered the door and showed the police to the attic where the poison was stored; they retrieved it and took it off to be destroyed. Following Law’s arrest, Interpol had contacted local forces across the globe so officers could visit the homes who’d received the packages.
Thames Valley Police coming to retrieve the substance was a ‘good result’ for David. While charities warn against publicising details about suicide methods, which is why Metro won’t name the substance that killed Tom, David wants to spotlight how easy it may possibly be to purchase online.
‘I used to be just attempting to follow Tom’s footprints and understand what he went through. It was incredible how easy it was to seek out, which is just astonishing.’ David also disputes the concept that this particular material, which has only been utilized in suicides up to now decade, provides a painless end, because it was advertised online.
‘It’s an excruciating death – and that’s backed up by medical research. That’s under no circumstances painless.’
He explains: ‘It’s vital to teach people. I work in IT and have used the web ever since I could. And yet, before Tom died, I used to be blissfully unaware that he could go browsing and find these items. He didn’t should go on the dark web or anything.
If you happen to’ve got a child like my son, it is advisable concentrate on these dangers
‘Tom had been on a suicide forum. I didn’t even know these places existed. He actively began to talk to just a few people, found the knowledge he wanted about find out how to take his own life and where to purchase it.
‘If you happen to’ve got a child like my son, it is advisable concentrate on these dangers, after which not less than you possibly can arguably do something about it. I need to teach families that that is on the market, so that they can confer with their young people about it. Because these sites are echo chambers. They take what you’re feeling and amplify it. It’s sick.’
And people selling the poisons and creating wealth from suicide web sites proceed to make the most of death, says David. ‘It’s obscure people’s motivations. To truly trade things for suicide as a business, I can’t consider many worse acts. Encouraging people to take their very own lives is just monstrous and quite beyond comprehension.’
Meanwhile, Tom’s family is left with grief, devastation, and a craving to make sure others don’t suffer in the identical way. Last 12 months, David arrange the Thomas William Parfett Foundation to enhance online safety for vulnerable people and forestall the provision of poison online.
‘If you happen to have a look at any product you possibly can buy, a meal from a restaurant or a automotive from a dealer, there may be an obligation of care on the individuals who provide that product to be sure it does no harm. And yet, you possibly can construct a web site that encourages suicide,’ he explains.
‘It seems quite incredible to me that the web doesn’t have that safety by design. It’s hugely frustrating, knowing that there might be individuals who should not necessarily in the most effective of mental health, who’re searching for advice, but unfortunately, they’ll find individuals who encourage them to take their very own lives.
‘It just seems ridiculous that we allow it. And I’m determined to stop it.’
A version of this story was first published in May 2025.
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