Peter Wai and Bill Yuen were convicted Thursday in London after a jury in the Central Criminal Court found they had violated Britain’s National Security Act by assisting a foreign spy service in what prosecutors described as “shadow policing” operations on U.K. soil. The case centered on allegations that the two men—both dual Chinese and British nationals—posed as legitimate police or intelligence officers while carrying out surveillance targeting Hong Kong dissidents and pro-democracy supporters in Britain.
Prosecutors said the defendants conducted surveillance and gathered information about people associated with political opposition movements. They also alleged the activities were carried out on behalf of China and were meant to benefit China’s objectives abroad, including the monitoring of individuals after a wide-ranging national security law was introduced in Hong Kong.
The Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement that the convictions send a message against transnational repression and foreign interference in Britain. Bethan David, head of counterterrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said the conduct was deliberate, coordinated and carried out with full knowledge of who it would benefit.
The court found Wai guilty of misconduct in a public office in addition to the national security offense. Wai, described by the prosecution as having worked for the U.K. Border Force, had also been a special City of London constable and ran a private security company, according to the account presented in court.
The prosecution said Yuen, 65, had been employed in London by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, the official overseas representative of Hong Kong’s government, and that he previously served as a superintendent in Hong Kong Police. Prosecutors said Yuen went beyond his job description as office manager and helped gather intelligence on the locations and activities of Hong Kong activists and politicians who had moved to the U.K. in recent years.
Prosecutors also described details of the alleged operation, including that phone messages showed the two conducted surveillance of former Hong Kong lawmaker Nathan Law and activists they referred to with a derogatory term. Prosecutors said Yuen told Wai to pay special attention to members of Parliament or government employees and, in 2023, provided the name of prominent U.K. politician Iain Duncan Smith, a co-chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.
The plot, prosecutors said, came to light after counterterror police disrupted an operation involving nine people as they tried to break into the northern England home of a woman from Hong Kong in May 2024. The woman, Monica Kwong, had been accused by a former employer, Beijing-based Australian businesswoman Tina Zou, of committing a 16 million pound fraud, while Kwong maintained it was a setup.
Investigators arrested a group at Kwong’s home in West Yorkshire that included Zou, Wai and two other retired Hong Kong police officers, while prosecutors said Yuen was arrested in London. The men were charged along with Matthew Trickett, a U.K. immigration enforcement officer who was also arrested at Kwong’s home and later found dead in a suspected suicide. Prosecutors said the panel could not reach verdicts on charges that the men carried out foreign interference by breaking into Kwong’s home.
After the convictions, Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang was summoned to the British Foreign Office. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said in a statement that the activities carried out on behalf of China were an infringement of sovereignty and would never be tolerated, and that Britain would continue to challenge China directly for actions that put people’s safety at risk.
Hong Kong’s government said it was not a party to the case but opposed what it called unfounded allegations against it or the London trade office. China’s embassy in the U.K. said it strongly condemned the convictions, describing the case as a political farce orchestrated by Britain through abuse of law and manipulation of judicial procedures, and it alleged the U.K. was supporting anti-China forces who fled to Britain and smeared both Beijing and Hong Kong governments.
The embassy said it had lodged serious representations with the British side and urged the U.K. to stop what it called anti-China political manipulation, adding that China would take necessary measures to safeguard its interests.
The jury’s decision included a correction to Wai’s age: prosecutors corrected that Wai is 40, not 38.