A UK Border Force officer and a Hong Kong trade official have become the first people in British history to be convicted of spying for China. Chi Leung 'Peter' Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 65, were found guilty at the Old Bailey of assisting a foreign intelligence service, following a nine-week trial.
Wai, who worked at Heathrow Airport and was a special constable for the City of London Police, was also convicted of misconduct in public office for unauthorised searches of Home Office databases. The court heard he gathered intelligence on dissidents, including exiled Hong Kong politician Nathan Law, and monitored British politicians such as former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith and Labour peer Helena Kennedy.
The spying operation was uncovered when police foiled an apparent kidnapping attempt of Monica Kwong, a former personal assistant who fled Hong Kong in 2023. Wai was arrested in her flat in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, along with former Royal Marine Matthew Trickett, who was later found dead in a park in Maidenhead, Berkshire, after being bailed.
Prosecutors said Yuen, a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office in London, directed Wai to target activists, referred to as 'cockroaches' in messages. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a separate charge of foreign interference, and the prosecution said it would not seek a retrial. Sentencing will take place at a later date.
