A person accused of organising web sites to sell poisons linked to the deaths of greater than 100 Brits won’t be extradited to the UK to face justice.
The parents of a few of the young individuals who died after ordering lethal substances online have called for a public inquiry within the wake of the ‘painful ‘decision which means Kenneth Law won’t face justice within the UK.
The Canadian will appear in court in Ontario on Friday accused of aiding suicide after allegedly selling 1,200 packages across 40 countries, including the UK.
An investigation into Canada-based web sites selling substances to help with suicide found that 286 individuals received packages within the UK, resulting in 112 deaths.
But despite prosecutors in Ontario bringing Law to court, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have written to the bereaved families to inform them they’d not be looking for to extradite the 60-year-old to the UK after legal proceedings in Canada had concluded.
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Within the letter sent on Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service and NCA also said Canadian authorities had confirmed that Law is predicted to plead guilty to charges of aiding suicide there.
The letter stated: ‘After careful assessment, we agreed that Mr Law ought to be sentenced for the total extent of his offending inside a single sentencing process in Canada. This approach will not be unusual in cases involving serious offending that crosses international borders.
‘We recognise that this may occasionally be painful to listen to, and that some victims and bereaved families could 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 CPS and NCA also said within the letter it had been established that Law sent 330 products to the UK in total.
The sister of 21-year-old Aimee Walton, from Southampton, who died in 2022, said that ‘doors have been shut’ for families looking for justice.
‘If our own country won’t put anyone on trial for these deaths, the very least it will probably do is hold a correct inquiry into how they were allowed to occur.’
Adele Zeynep Walton said: ‘The query for our own country is easier still: who here will examine how the British state let this occur, and what it’ll accomplish that that no other family goes through it?
‘A foreign sentencing hearing cannot answer that. Only a statutory public inquiry can.’
Tom Parfett, 22, had taken a poison tablet and documented the way it felt to users on a forum in October 2021 from a hotel in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey.
He said he was beginning to lose feeling in his hand, and commenters only ‘egged him on’.
The web site, a suicide forum which disguised itself as a help group, has been investigated by Ofcom, who fined the operators £950,000.
Reacting to the choice to not extradite Law, his father David said: ‘I’m offended, but I’m not surprised.
‘For months, we now have been told that the system is working and that existing measures are enough. They aren’t.
‘If our own country won’t put anyone on trial for these deaths, the very least it will probably do is hold a correct inquiry into how they were allowed to occur.’
Law was also investigated by police in the USA, Italy, Australia and Latest Zealand.
Andy Burrows, chief executive of Molly Rose Foundation, said: ‘Bereaved families have been campaigning tirelessly to carry Kenneth Law to account within the UK and to be told he won’t be prosecuted here on the eve of his court case in Canada is a bitter blow.
‘Families up and down the country have been impacted by Law’s crimes and may have the precise to full justice within the UK.
‘So long as the pro-suicide forum stays online, and while this substance is accessible within the UK and across borders, more vulnerable individuals are in danger.’
The CPS and NCA have been approached for comment.
Samaritans are here to listen, day or night, twelve months a 12 months. You may call them free of charge on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org for more information.
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