A man accused of setting up websites to sell poisons linked to the deaths of more than 100 Brits will not be extradited to the UK to face justice.
The parents of some of the young people who died after ordering lethal substances online have called for a public inquiry in the wake of the ‘painful ‘decision that means Kenneth Law will not face justice in 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 websites selling substances to assist with suicide found that 286 individuals received packages in the UK, leading to 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 tell them they would not be seeking to extradite the 60-year-old to the UK after legal proceedings in Canada had concluded.
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In the letter sent on Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service and NCA also said Canadian authorities had confirmed that Law is expected to plead guilty to charges of aiding suicide there.
The letter stated: ‘After careful assessment, we agreed that Mr Law should be sentenced for the full extent of his offending within a single sentencing process in Canada. This approach is not unusual in cases involving serious offending that crosses international borders.
‘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 CPS and NCA also said in 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 seeking justice.
‘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.’
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.’
Tom Parfett, 22, had taken a poison tablet and documented how it felt to users on a forum in October 2021 from a hotel in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey.
He said he was starting to lose feeling in his hand, and commenters only ‘egged him on’.
The website, a suicide forum which disguised itself as a help group, has been investigated by Ofcom, who fined the operators £950,000.
Reacting to the decision not to extradite Law, his father David 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 United States, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.
Andy Burrows, chief executive of Molly Rose Foundation, said: ‘Bereaved families have been campaigning tirelessly to hold Kenneth Law to account in the UK and to be told he will not 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 should have the right to full justice in the UK.
‘As long as the pro-suicide forum remains online, and while this substance is available in the UK and across borders, more vulnerable people are at risk.’
The CPS and NCA have been approached for comment.
Samaritans are here to listen, day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org for more information.