Families of young Britons, including the relatives of a 14-year-old boy, have faced Canadian chef Kenneth Law in court after he admitted selling poison online to people seeking to end their lives.
Parents and relatives delivered emotional statements at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket on Wednesday, ahead of Law’s sentencing hearing.
The 60-year-old pleaded guilty in May to sending 1,200 lethal packages to more than 40 countries, including 330 shipments to Britain.
Law admitted 14 counts of aiding suicide in Canada. Under a legal agreement, he also accepted that 79 people in the UK died after consuming chemicals purchased from him online, among them 14-year-old Henry Tucker.
Henry’s parents, Kate and Graham Tucker, said the death of their son—who bought the lethal substance over the internet—would “define our existence until our final days”.
Henry, from Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire, had been experiencing mental health difficulties and had been misdiagnosed with autism and anorexia before his death in October 2021.
Kenneth Law, 60, admitted aiding 14 suicides in Ontario, Canada. The deaths of 79 Britons will also be considered when he is sentenced next month
After Henry died, his parents learned that he had a neurological condition that could have been treated with “an intense course of antibiotics from an early age”.
“The realisation that his suffering and his death could have been prevented is a weight that is impossible to bear,” they told the court.
“The regret that we could not save him despite our best efforts is a constant, haunting companion.”
An inquest heard that the teenager had struggled to obtain support while the NHS was under pressure during the Covid pandemic.
On the day he died, Henry arranged for a suicide note to be emailed to his mother at 9pm.
By the time she received the message and forced her way into his locked bedroom at the family home in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, attempts to revive him with CPR were unsuccessful.
A diary entry later discovered by his mother said: “I can’t find the courage to live any longer. It’s too stressful for me to be constantly monitored. Please don’t feel sad. I love you Mum.”
Henry’s parents said their son’s death had been “facilitated by the actions of Kenneth Law”.
“Henry will remain a beautiful 14-year-old forever,” they said.
“We are left to imagine the young man he would have become, what he would look like at 16, 18, 21, and beyond.
“The world has become a less colourful and joyful place.
Families of Kenneth Law’s victims embrace as they arrive at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
“The capacity for excitement has left us, and our relationships, friendships, and emotions have become complex and strained. The death of a child, particularly under these circumstances, is a heavy burden to carry for the rest of our lives.”
The Crown Prosecution Service said Law was a ‘serial offender who callously exploited many vulnerable and innocent people’.
But British victims are disappointed that there are currently no plans to extradite him to the UK.
Instead, after a National Crime Agency investigation, a deal was struck for the British deaths to be reflected in Law’s sentence in Canada.
The maximum sentence for aiding suicide in Canada is 14 years. Law is expected to be sentenced next month.
Prosecutors believe Law would have been able to challenge any extradition request due to ‘double jeopardy’ laws and that the deal was the ‘quickest and most effective route’ for British victims to secure justice.
But David Parfett, whose 22-year-old son, Tom, died alone in a hotel room after ingesting a packet of poison sent to him by Law in October 2021, said families of the Britons who died were angry that they will never get to see Law face justice in a UK court.
‘As far as I’m concerned Law is worse than Harold Shipman,’ he said.
Tom Parfett, 22, was studying philosophy at St Andrew’s University when he died
‘It’s likely he’s caused more deaths than anyone else in history. The fact that we won’t see him standing to face charges here beggars belief.’
Mr Parfett and other UK families affected have called for a public inquiry into suicide sites online.
He said UK legislation was not fit to prosecute modern digital crimes and the authorities were ‘struggling and failing to catch up’.
‘This is an unprecedented case, there’s no organisation or legislation that is shutting these people down,’ Mr Parfett, an IT manager, of Twickenham, south-west London, added.
‘Ofcom are toothless, they fine these sites but the fines don’t get paid, and they have refused to apply their power to disrupt these businesses, which is just astonishing.
‘Sites like the ones Law used to sell his poison are still up and running – people are still coming to harm and dying.’
Mr Parfett provided a victim impact statement to the court, which was read out on his behalf.
He said: ‘Since Tom died I’ve struggled with my mental health.
‘Initially, in the months after he died, I didn’t properly mourn him as my focus was on understanding and then exposing the harm caused by the internet platform that allowed Law to trade his suicide kits, and on exposing Law himself.
‘I’m a very different person to who I was before Tom took his own life having previously been gregarious and outgoing. It’s hard to function when I’m frequently sad and feel low.’
Law sent the poison, which Our News Outlet is not naming, to countries all over the world, including Australia, Azerbaijan, India, China, Germany, Spain and France. Around a quarter of the 1,200 packages were sent to Britain.
Many of his customers had been guided to his site via a suicide forum online, which is still active.
David Parfett’s son, Tom, 22, died after ordering poison from Law, in October 2021
Evidence showed that Law was masquerading as a retired doctor called Greenberg on the site.
Greenberg endorsed Law’s products and supplied the name of the poison website to forum users. The authorities confirmed that Greenberg was Law.
Law had originally been charged with first-degree murder, but after taking their case to Canada’s top court, prosecutors conceded that the law made the charges not ‘viable’.
The court also heard from businessman Norson Harris, 60, the father of Ashleigh Harris, a ‘funny, caring and brilliantly bright’ 26-year-old computer programmer, from Nottingham, who took her own life after ingesting poison sold to her by Law, in February 2023.
She had struggled with depression, suicidal thoughts and gender dysphoria, having transitioned from male to female in 2019.
Ashleigh sent a final text to her family, which read: ‘Really sorry, I tried asking them for help but they didn’t listen. I love you all, I really do.’
Mr Harris, who travelled from the UK to deliver his statement in person, described how Ashleigh, who was a twin, had a fascination with computers and coding from a young child and went on to complete a degree in computing and network science.
But he said it would be wrong to characterise her ‘as two dimensional (or) merely a geek’.
‘Ashleigh was witty and had the most wonderful sense of humour,’ he said.
‘At university, she found a close, supportive community of friends.
‘The impact of Ashleigh’s death has been profound. There was a before, and then there was an after where we have gained membership to a club that nobody wants to be part of.
‘It is hard to put into words the true devastation but it is something you can see and feel in tiny, everyday moments.
‘The glance between the twins there should have been when someone says something amusing, an empty seat at the table, and the underlying pain on people’s faces. Catching yourself when you think about what gifts to buy for Christmas, and remembering there is the one person you can no longer buy a present for.
‘The impact that this has had on my life, my family’s life, and the many friends that Ashleigh had, is indescribable. The pain continues every day and doesn’t get any easier.’
He said he and all close family members felt ‘haunted’ that they were unable to stop Ashleigh taking her own life.
Family events, such as her twin brother’s wedding, where a place was set for Ashleigh at the top table, and the birth of her nephew, Mr Harris said, made their grief more noticeable and heartbreaking.
Mr Harris said that, when his daughter reached out for help with her mental health online, ‘instead of offering the help needed’ Law ‘sold her a chemical she used to end her own life’.
He said his one consolation was that Law had ‘acknowledged responsibility for Ashleigh’s death’.
‘I still hope that over time Mr Law may recognise that the answer he should have given to Ashleigh, and to the myriad of others who reached out to him, was simply that they were loved, they were not alone and help was available,’ he added.
Another Briton, Ilse Belien, 26, survived ingesting a substance posted to her home, in January 2023, by Law after having second thoughts about taking her own life.
She also travelled to Canada to face Law in court.
‘Kenneth Law’s actions made it a lot easier for me to act on (my) despair,’ she told the hearing.
Although she survived after receiving an antidote and made a full physical recovery, the event had taken a mental toll, she said.
She now suffers from an eating disorder, which made it difficult for her to do her job and she also finds it hard to build a trusting relationship with her family.
She said she suffered with flashbacks and said guilt often clouded her thoughts.
When police conducted a welfare check on her four months after her suicide attempt, they informed her that many others had purchased products from Law and died.
‘I felt that by purchasing from Kenneth Law, I enabled him to continue his business… I felt guilty for surviving,’ she said.
‘Being here today reminds me of how easily it could have been my parents making a statement instead of me.
‘They would (be) talking about all the things I missed out on: How I never got to go on that holiday I really wanted to go on, how I didn’t get my driving licence, how I never got that promotion at work, about the life I didn’t get to live.’
She said ultimately her feelings of despair ‘weren’t permanent’ and she’s learning ‘to be excited to see what the future holds for me’.
Ms Belien said she’s grateful to be alive, but that the ‘trauma from the experience’ hasn’t gone away.
The hearing continues.
