A British woman who died after buying poison from a Canadian national was found in the company of a stranger she met online, her sister has told a court.
Aimee Louise Elif Walton, 21, from Southampton, was found dead in a hotel room on October 14 2022. She is one of 79 victims from the UK known to have died as a direct result of purchasing poison from Kenneth Law, who sold 1,200 packages to 40 countries across the world from Canada-based websites.
Victim impact statement played in court
Ms Walton's sister, Adele Zeynep Walton, recorded her victim impact statement in a video played in court in Ontario, Canada, on Thursday. In her statement, Adele Walton said her sister was not found by a friend, as previously reported, but died in the company of a stranger she had met in an internet forum where people discussed ending their own lives.
The man “had flown from America to be with her when she died”, and had been staying with her for 11 days prior to her death, Adele Walton said. “She died in a strange place, in a strange city, in the company of a stranger,” she told the court. “You only need to listen to the recording of the emergency call to know how much she suffered during the last moments of her life.”
Poison purchases and background
Ms Walton purchased poison from Law for a total of 269 dollars (£203) on several occasions between June 2022 and September 2022. She had been struggling with her mental health since the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in her delaying her studies, Adele Walton told the court.
Law, 61, previously pleaded guilty to 14 counts of aiding suicide, all relating to Canadian victims. Although Law was not formally charged with the deaths, the 79 UK victims also form part of the wider Canadian case into his offending.
No UK proceedings and calls for inquiry
Authorities previously informed 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. This means a court could technically refuse extradition on the basis that Law had already been convicted of similar offences in another country.
Adele Walton, along with other family members of the British victims, previously criticised the decision, saying “doors have been shut” for families seeking justice. “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?” Adele Walton previously said. “A foreign sentencing hearing cannot answer that. Only a statutory public inquiry can.”
It has been established Law sent a total 330 products to the UK, with 286 individuals receiving the products, according to the NCA. 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 court in Ontario also heard how Law would occasionally frequent an online forum where users discussed ending their lives and he would post under the pseudonym “Greenberg” to direct people to one of his websites. The maximum sentence for aiding suicide in Canada is 14 years – the same 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.
