A Canadian former chef is accused of cooking up a sick money-making scheme in which he sold more than 1,200 suicide kits packed with poison that have been tied to over 100 deaths around the world.
Kenneth Law, 58, was charged this week with 14 counts of second-degree murder for helping more than a dozen young people, including teenagers, in the province of Ontario kill themselves, police announced Tuesday.
Law had previously been charged with 14 counts of “counseling or aiding suicide” in connection with the same Ontario deaths.
Police said Law mailed 160 packages of sodium nitrite — a food preservative that can be deadly if misused — to people in Canada ranging in age from 16 to 36.
He is also believed to have shipped at least 1,200 of these assisted-suicide parcels to addresses in more than 40 countries since 2020, after he lost his job at the historic Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto during COVID.
Law has been linked to 117 deaths around the world, the vast majority of them in the UK, Canada’s CBC outlet reported, citing court documents and statements.
The National Crime Agency in London has identified 272 people in Britain who had bought items from Law’s websites, and 90 of them died.
One of Law’s alleged victims was 22-year-old Tom Parfett of Sunbury-on-Thames, who ended his life in October 2021 using a chemical he bought for about $60 on Law’s website, according to his father.
“It sends a signal to other people who encourage vulnerable people to self-harm and provide suicide kits that they’re not beyond the law,” David Parfett told the BBC in response to murder charges being filed against Law in Canada.
Authorities in New Zealand, France, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Switzerland all confirmed that Law had shipped packages to their countries, resulting in at least one known death.
James said during a press conference Tuesday that police in Ontario are cooperating with multiple international investigations.
Law, who police claimed used multiple websites to market his lethal wares to vulnerable people, has been in jail since May.
“One of the challenges that we face are a number of these sites are located in other countries where Canadian law does not apply,” said Inspector Simon James of the police force in York in Canada.
Law is due back in court Dec. 19. If convicted of second-degree murder, he could face a life sentence as one of Canada’s most prolific mass murderers.
With Post wires