The sentencing of Kenneth Law, a Canadian man linked to more than 100 suicides worldwide, including in Wales, has started in Ontario. Law, 61, pleaded guilty in May to 14 counts of aiding suicide involving people aged 16 to 36, all of whom were Canadian.
Law supplied 1,200 packages to people in 40 countries, and 79 UK victims are known to have died as a direct result of buying his products, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and National Crime Agency (NCA). The 79 UK victims form part of the wider Canadian case into his offending despite Law not being formally charged with the deaths.
Law appeared in court in Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, September 23, for the start of his sentencing, which is due to last for several days.
Victim impact statements read in court
During the first day of the sentencing, victim impact statements were read out for some of Law's 93 victims who form part of the Canadian proceedings. Families described the life-shattering grief they experienced as a result of the products sold by Law.
Kate and Graham Tucker, who found their teenage son Henry dead in his bedroom in 2021, were among the UK families whose statements were read out in court by a prosecutor. "The death of our youngest son Henry at just 14 years old, on October 27, 2021 – a tragedy facilitated by the actions of Kenneth Law – has irrevocably shattered our lives," the parents wrote.
The teenager bought a lethal substance from Law for 87 dollars (£65) on October 18, 2021, and received it on October 25. His parents said their son had difficulties which were "repeatedly and wrongly diagnosed as autism". Henry was in fact suffering from Paediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (Pans) and Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections (Pandas).
Families describe impact of deaths
Daniel O'Donoghue and Alison Askwith, the parents of 21-year-old student Alex O'Donoghue, recorded their victim impact statement in a video played out in court. Mr O'Donoghue said: "Alex was our beautiful, kind, funny, gentle son, our only child together, born in our lives quite late."
Alex was found dead in his university room on February 24, 2022, by Warwick University's Community Safety Team. "Alex was alone when he died," Mr O'Donoghue said. "His last words, 'I'm scared', are words that will haunt us until we also die. Without the poison Mr Law knowingly supplied, we believe our son would still be alive today."
Norson Harris' daughter Ashleigh Harris died at the age of 26 on February 6, 2023. He said her loss had a "profound" impact on her family. The 26-year-old died in hospital after she was seen stumbling out of a door and collapsing by someone who called the emergency services. She had gone to a hospital at 7.30am earlier that day and told staff she was having thoughts of self-harm.
Details of Law's operations
A statement from Sandy Windsor, the mother of 29-year-old Tom Windsor, was also read out in court by a prosecutor. Mr Windsor died at his home on July 10, 2021, after he called 999 saying he had ingested a poison. "Tom was alone when he died, with just a poor call handler on the other side (of the phone)," Ms Windsor wrote. "He said on that call he didn't want to die."
David Parfett, father of 22-year-old philosophy student Thomas Parfett, said that he struggled to properly grieve for his son in the years following his death. Thomas Parfett was found dead by staff at a hotel in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, on October 28, 2021, after taking poison bought from Law.
A total of 74 victim impact statements are to be read out in court during proceedings due to last four days. Authorities previously told the victims' families that Law would not face criminal proceedings in the UK because of the potential for the hotel cook to challenge the extradition under "double jeopardy" laws.
According to the NCA, Law sent a total of 330 products to the UK, to 286 people. The court previously heard Law was the sole owner of four companies, with one firm's website offering a "set of instructions" and advertising 40-minute telephone consultations for 150 dollars (£111).
The maximum sentence for aiding suicide in Canada is 14 years – the same as for encouraging suicide in the UK. It is understood that the sentence in this case is likely to be more than 14 years because of the number of victims and the nature of the offences.
