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Hong Kong-UK spying row: dead suspect Matthew Trickett’s charges dropped as February trial date set for co-defendants

  • Matthew Trickett, 37, had been set to appear in court but was found dead in a public park in Maidenhead, Berkshire on Sunday
  • Defendants Peter Wai, 38, and Bill Yuen, 63, appear at Old Bailey in London and are told they will go on trial on February 10 next year

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HKETO office manager Bill Yuen heads to court on Friday. Photo: Jack Tsang
Kahon Chanin Hong KongandJack Tsangin London
British prosecutors on Friday dropped espionage charges against Matthew Trickett, who was found dead last Sunday, a week after he was arrested for allegedly spying on behalf of Hong Kong’s trade promotion office as a London court set a February trial date for two other co-defendants.
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Trickett, 37, had also been set to appear in court on Friday but was found dead in a public park in Maidenhead, Berkshire, about a kilometre away from his correspondence address. Thames Valley Police earlier said they were treating the death as “unexplained”.

The two other defendants, Peter Wai Chi-leung, 38, and Bill Yuen Chung-biu, 63, appeared before Mr Justice Jeremy Baker at the Central Criminal Court, commonly known as the Old Bailey, in London.

Baker told them they would go on trial in Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court on February 10 next year, with the hearing taking up to five weeks.

Peter Wai heads to the Old Bailey on Friday. Photo: Jack Tsang
Peter Wai heads to the Old Bailey on Friday. Photo: Jack Tsang

It is understood Wai is a UK Border Force officer and director of private firm D5 Security, while Yuen is office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.

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