Five Scottish deaths linked to Canadian 'poison seller' who posted 'suicide packs'

Five people died in Scotland after a Canadian 'poison seller' was linked to dozens of suicides, prosecutors have found. Kenneth Law pleaded guilty to 14 counts of aiding suicide in an Ontario court in Canada on Friday. The 60-year-old sold lethal substances to victims across the world, including 330 packages sent to the UK.

While Law's guilty pleas related to cases in Canada, Law is also linked to the deaths of 79 people in the UK, including five in Scotland . The court heard he owned four companies, with one website offering a “set of instructions” and advertising 40-minute telephone consultations for 150 dollars (£111). The site also featured a “testimonial” from the estate of someone who had been successful in killing themself to prove the “efficacy” of his products. In Canada, the maximum prison sentence for aiding suicide is 14 years – the same as for encouraging suicide in the UK.

It's understood Law could be sentenced to a longer term due to the number of victims in the case. The court heard how one of his British victims, Tom Windsor, told police he used the substance sold by Law and was found unconscious by emergency crews while still connected to the 999 call. He told the call operator he did not want to die. A 43-year-old British woman died in July 2021 after her four-year-old daughter asked her mum's husband where she was.

The court heard they found his wife “slumped over their daughter’s dollhouse” in the living room. One of Law’s victims died 12 days after a visit from South Wales Police, who were performing a wellness check. Danielle Cornish , 29, told officers she had no intention of killing herself and police took no action, but she died on August 22 2022, after telling emergency services she had taken the product sold by Law. Another man, Oliver Wade, who had no record of mental health issues, killed himself three days after his mother died of cancer, the court heard.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said all 79 UK victims would form part of the wider investigation into Law, a hotel cook. But victims’ families have been told that Law will not face criminal proceedings in the UK because of the potential for him to challenge the extradition after being convicted in Canada. British prosecutors described Law as 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 across the world from Canada-based websites, with 286 people in the UK receiving products, leading to 112 deaths.

Some 330 products were sent to the UK, one to the Isle of Man and 12 to Ireland, the court heard. A letter to bereaved UK families from the NCA and the CPS said the cases would be incorporated into the Canadian prosecution. It 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.” A spokesperson for the Crown Office said: “COPFS and Police Scotland have been liaising closely with Canadian prosecutors in relation to the deaths of a number of people in Scotland. “We are limited in what we can say at this time.” Senior NCA investigating officer Damon Hayes said the move “guarantees all victims and families in the UK will see justice”. He added: “This approach is not unusual in cases involving serious offending that crosses international borders. “This will allow the judge to take into account the full extent of Law's criminal behaviour, including the fact that his actions resulted in the deaths of people in this country.” But victims’ families have criticised the move.

David Parfett, father of philosophy student Thomas Parfett, who died aged 22 in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, said: “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.” The sister of 21-year-old Aimee Walton, 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.” The NCA has worked with 45 police forces across the UK to gather evidence on Law's offending since it launched a probe in 2023.

Specialist CPS prosecutor Andrew Hudson told reporters “no victim has been left behind as part of this process” saying prosecutors would “ensure that the full devastating extent of his criminal conduct is seen and considered by the sentence in court”. Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email [email protected] or head to the website to find your nearest branch.

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