A UK Border Force officer and a Hong Kong trade official based in London have been found guilty of spying for China, in the first convictions of their kind in British history. Chi Leung Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 65, were found guilty at the Old Bailey of assisting a foreign intelligence service after a nine-week trial.
Wai, who worked at Heathrow Airport and served as a special constable, was also convicted of misconduct in public office for unauthorised searches of Home Office databases. The court heard that Yuen, a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office, instructed Wai to surveil pro-democracy activists and British politicians, including former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith and Labour peer Helena Kennedy.
The spying ring was uncovered when police thwarted an attempt to confront Monica Kwong, a Hong Kong exile, in West Yorkshire. Wai and a third man, Matthew Trickett, were arrested in May 2024. Trickett, a former Royal Marine, was found dead in a park a week after being bailed. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a separate charge of foreign interference against Wai and Yuen.
Home Office minister Dan Jarvis condemned the activities as an infringement of UK sovereignty. Sentencing will take place at a later date.
