The Chinese ambassador has been summoned by the Foreign Office after two men were found guilty of spying for China, a security minister has confirmed
A Border Force official and a retired Hong Kong police officer have been found guilty of spying for China on British soil.
Dual Chinese-British nationals Peter Wai, 40, and Bill Yuen, 65, conducted “shadow policing” operations on Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters living in the UK.
They were arrested after a failed bid to snatch a former Hong Kong resident, Monica Kwong, from her flat in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
Following a two-month Old Bailey trial, the pair were convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act. Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang has been summoned by the Foreign Office in response to the convictions.
Security minister Dan Jarvis said this aimed to “make it clear activity like this was, and will always be, unacceptable on UK soil”. Wai was also convicted on Thursday of misconduct in a public office by searching the Home Office computer system for people of interest to Hong Kong authorities.
The court had heard how Wai worked for the UK Border Force, was a City of London Police special constable having formerly been in the Royal Navy.
He had gathered intelligence on the orders of ex-Hong Kong superintendent Yuen, who was a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO) in London, said to be an extension in the UK of the Hong Kong government.
Targets included Hong Kong dissidents – with “special attention” paid to British politicians, including senior Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
The defendants referred to targets as “cockroaches” as they gathered intelligence on what cars they were driving, where they lived and their social media accounts.
Prominent campaigner Nathan Law, who has a one million Hong Kong dollar bounty on his head (£95,680), was pictured leaving the Oxford Union during one surveillance operation.
Personal assistant Ms Kwong had left Hong Kong with her young son in 2023 amid accusations of involvement in a £16 million fraud, which she denied.
Wai had searched the Home Office computer system for information about Ms Kwong and pro-democracy campaigners. Having located Ms Kwong, the defendants put a team together to access her home using “underhand means, deception and then force to achieve their ends”, jurors were told.
The team carried out surveillance and then tried to “trick” their way into her home, including by posing as electricians who had come to repair a fuse, the court had heard.
Among those present was Matthew Trickett, 37, an immigration enforcement officer and ex-Royal Marine, who was filmed repeatedly knocking on Ms Kwong’s door.
He went on to pour bottled water on the floor to simulate a fake flood as part of a failed ruse to get Ms Kwong out of the flat, the trial had heard.
Having been alerted to what was going on, police were bugging their activities and were waiting inside the flat when the team finally broke in.
On Wai’s arrest, officers found his warrant card as a special police constable and a second – fake – card identifying him as a superintendent.
Of the 11 people arrested, only Trickett, who worked as a Home Office immigration officer, was charged with Wai and Yuen under the National Security Act.
But a week later, he was found dead in woodland near Maidenhead, Berkshire. Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, and Yuen, from Hackney, east London, had pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them.
Giving evidence, Wai, who was known to associates as Fatboy, told jurors he was an instructor in the traditional Chinese martial art of lion dancing and had formerly been in the Royal Navy.
Yuen told jurors how he became officer manager at HKETO after retiring from the Hong Kong police after 18 years. It was part of his job to provide building security – but not to pass intelligence to Chinese authorities in Hong Kong, he said.
He hired Wai’s private security firm to provide protection for HKETO and visiting dignitaries who were targeted by protesters, Yuen said.
The jury, which deliberated for 23 hours and 38 minutes, was discharged after failing to reach a verdict against the defendants of foreign interference.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb remanded the defendants into custody to be sentenced at a later date after the prosecution said the Crown would not seek a retrial.
Bethan David, head of the counter terrorism division at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “These convictions send a clear message that transnational repression, foreign interference, unauthorised surveillance, and attempts to operate outside the law will not be tolerated on British soil.
“This conduct was deliberate, co-ordinated and carried out with full knowledge of who it would benefit, as demonstrated by extensive digital and financial material presented during the trial.
“The CPS will not hesitate to prosecute cases where evidence shows illegal attempts to interfere, intimidate, or operate covertly in the United Kingdom. We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to make sure that those who abuse positions of trust or act on behalf of foreign interests are held properly to account.”
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “The activity by Wai and Yuen was both sinister and chilling. Our investigation found they were spying for the Hong Kong authorities, targeting UK-based pro-democracy campaigners.
“It is completely unacceptable for anyone to carry out this kind of activity on behalf of a foreign state here in the UK. I hope this outcome provides reassurance to those living in the UK who may be concerned about being targeted by any foreign state, that we will do everything we can to help keep them safe.”
Polly Truscott, Amnesty International UK’s foreign policy director, said the case laid bare the Hong Kong government’s “chilling” determination to spy on activists in the UK.
She said: “Students, activists, and those seeking asylum here must have their personal security and privacy protected and be able to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, opinion and peaceful protest without fear of foreign interference and intimidation.”the dual Chinese-British nationals conducted “shadow policing” operations on Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters living in the UK.
Mr Jarvis said Zheng Zeguang has been summoned “to make it clear activity like this was, and will always be, unacceptable on UK soil”. In response to the convictions, Mr Jarvis said: “The activities carried out by these men, on behalf of China, are an infringement of our sovereignty and will never be tolerated.
“We will continue to hold China to account and challenge them directly for actions which put the safety of people in our country at risk.
“That is why the Foreign Office will summon the Chinese ambassador to make it clear activity like this was, and will always be, unacceptable on UK soil.
“This case proves the strength of the powers we have to protect us from hostile activity carried out by foreign states and these convictions should send a clear message – there will be serious consequences for anyone who seeks to undermine our security.
“I’m grateful to our partners in law enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service for their work in bringing these individuals to justice.”
The Henry Jackson Society has called for a reassessment of Britain’s approach to Beijing’s operations on British soil. The think tank’s director of national security Dr John Hemmings said: “The UK has now seen repeated cases involving espionage, surveillance of dissidents, interference in democratic institutions and attempts to silence critics of the Chinese Communist Party abroad.
“Against that backdrop, it is increasingly difficult to justify China’s current status within the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, where it is treated alongside close partners such as Canada and Malta.
“Adding China to the enhanced tier would be a proportionate and necessary step to improve transparency around state-linked influence activity and better protect British institutions from covert interference.”
