Canadian chef charged with aiding suicide after selling poison linked to two deaths

Police have charged a Canadian chef who admitted to delivering a deadly poison to suicidal youths through the mail.

Kenneth Law, 57, of Mississauga, Ontario, has been charged with the alleged online sale and distribution of a substance allegedly linked to two deaths in Toronto’s Peel region.

Law allegedly mailed the deadly substance to vulnerable customers around the world for at least two years.

Law was arrested Tuesday night by Toronto police and subsequently charged with two counts of counseling or assisting suicide. He will appear in court later today.

But more deaths have been linked to the chef, including four in the UK, as police warn “there could be more victims”.

“The suspect is believed to have distributed and marketed the substance online to target individuals at risk of self-harm,” police said.

Speaking to reporters after the arrest on Tuesday, Peel Deputy Chief Marc Andrews said investigators believe about 1,200 packages were sent illegally to 40 different countries. Andrews noted that police could not confirm whether all the packages contained the same substance.

“Investigators are working with multiple jurisdictions in Ontario, nationally and internationally as we believe there may be more victims,” ​​Andrews said, as reported Times.

“The mental health and wellbeing of our communities is our top priority.

“Therefore, we will not tolerate the criminal acts of those who prey on vulnerable individuals in our community.”

Law’s alleged actions were uncovered in an investigation by The Times last week, which claimed the chef was sending the substance to vulnerable customers around the world from a post office near Toronto.

Four deaths in the UK were linked to the poison sold online, an investigation by The Times claimed, including that of Tom Parfett, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, who took his own life aged 22 after buying the substance from Law’s company.

Parfett’s father, David, said Law “actually handed my son a loaded gun.”

He told The Times: “I believe my son would still be alive if it hadn’t been for this man and this substance.”

An undercover reporter posed as a suicidal client of Law’s. He reportedly bragged about supplying the substance and claimed to be doing “God’s work.”

Law was also reported to have admitted sending the poison to hundreds of customers in the UK and said he would continue to do so until he exhausted his supply.

While the substance caused the least 70 deaths in Britain, it is still legal to sell and serves purposes other than poison. Retailers must still notify the authorities if they suspect it has been purchased with the intent to cause harm.

Assisted suicide is punishable by up to 14 years in prison in the UK and Canada.

Anthony Jones, a 17-year-old American, was another of Law’s alleged victims. After ingesting the substance, he ran to his mother screaming “I want to live”, which eventually killed him, The Times investigation reported.

In Britain, Mr Parfett, Michael Dunham, 38, Neha Raju, 23, and a 21-year-old student have all died in the past 18 months after buying Law’s products.

Mr Parfett’s father said Law was playing God by providing vulnerable people with the means to commit suicide.

“He knowingly supplies people with a substance to take their own lives and derive some kind of perverse pleasure in knowing they are doing it,” he added.

Law told an undercover reporter that ‘many, many, many, many’ people had died after ingesting the poison.

He said he got into the business of selling poison after seeing his mother suffering from a stroke.

police has since warned the public to alert officers if they receive a package from the following businesses: Imtime Cuisine; AmbuCA; academic/academic; Escape Mode/escMode; and Icemac.

Anyone who received such a package or has any additional information is invited to contact the police at tel. 1-888-714-0003 or 11Divproject@peelpolice.ca.