Poison Seller Kenneth Law Linked to 147 Deaths
The Toronto-area man who pleaded guilty to abetting 14 Ontario suicides is suspected in nearly 150 deaths worldwide.
Kenneth Law, the Toronto-area man who pleaded guilty Friday to abetting 14 suicides across Ontario, is suspected of being linked to nearly 147 deaths around the world, according to a CBC News investigation.
Law, 60, spent two years running online shops that sold a legal but potentially lethal chemical and other suicide paraphernalia. Court heard he shipped 1,209 packages to buyers in 41 countries, including 160 to Canadian destinations and more than 200 to the United Kingdom. On Friday, the Ontario court also heard he made 431 shipments to the U.S., and others to Australia, Brazil, China, India, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and South Korea.
In the Newmarket court, Crown prosecutors said they would withdraw the 14 counts of first-degree murder that Law faced in connection with the same deaths where he pleaded guilty to abetting. Law has been in custody since his May 2023 arrest at his Mississauga home and will be sentenced at a later date.
He has not been charged in any other jurisdiction and appears unlikely to stand trial elsewhere. On Thursday, British authorities told bereaved families he would not face prosecution for deaths in England and Wales, despite the National Crime Agency investigating 112 deaths there.
Canadian law enforcement informed Interpol, which alerted authorities from Australia to Malta. In some instances, wellness checks at buyers' homes led police to seize Law's products. Authorities in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and New Zealand have confirmed deaths linked to Law's clients. The actual number of deaths may never be known, as not all incidents have been investigated by law enforcement.