A Canadian man who ran online businesses that shipped toxic salt to people in 40 countries pleaded guilty on Friday to 14 counts of aiding suicides in Ontario, prosecutors said.
British prosecutors said that the man, Kenneth Law, 60, of Mississauga, a city just west of Toronto, had also formally admitted to causing the deaths of 79 people in Britain as part of the proceedings in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ontario.
The deaths in Britain were recognized in the Canadian court, which will sentence Mr. Law in September “on the basis that he distributed lethal products internationally, knowing they were likely to be used to end lives,” Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
Each count of aiding suicide carries a sentence of up to 14 years in prison under Canadian law.
The Ontario victims were between 16 and 36 years old.
Mr. Law showed no emotion as he stood in a prisoner’s box and pleaded guilty, Reuters reported, adding that prosecutors planned to ask that 14 first-degree murder charges that Mr. Law faces be withdrawn after his sentencing.
Mr. Law, whose lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday, was arrested in Ontario in May 2023.
The police said he caused deaths starting in late 2020, when investigators believe he began operating online businesses that sold sodium nitrite, a salt used as a food preservative that can be lethal when ingested.
Mr. Law had also worked as a cook at a luxury hotel in downtown Toronto, according to a union that represents hotel workers.
Although sodium nitrite is a legal product in Canada, Mr. Law used a pseudonym to promote his products in an online forum that encouraged suicide and was “aware that the products he sold were being used by purchasers around the world to bring about their deaths,” according to a statement of facts entered in the Canadian court.
Between Jan. 1, 2020, and May 23, 2023, nearly 297,000 Canadian dollars, or just over $215,000, in revenue from Mr. Law’s online businesses was deposited into his bank accounts, the statement said.
Britain’s National Crime Agency said it started investigating Mr. Law in April 2023 when it received information indicating that 286 people in Britain had made purchases from Canada-based websites that were selling products to assist with suicide.
Officers disseminated the information to 43 police agencies in Britain so they could conduct welfare checks on the people who had bought products from Mr. Law’s website, the National Crime Agency said.
“Kenneth Law believed he was untouchable in his criminal business, which exploited vulnerable people around the world at a time when they needed support the most,” Craig Turner, the National Crime Agency’s deputy director of investigations, said in a statement.
“Instead, Law encouraged victims to take their own lives using items bought from him, attempting to cover his tracks with detailed instructions to avoid leading policing back to him and acting with arrogance when attempting to justify his actions,” Mr. Turner said.
Outside court on Friday, Stephen Mitchell Sr. spoke to reporters about his son, Stephen Mitchell Jr., who was 21 when he died in 2023 and was one of the people whose suicide Mr. Law was convicted of aiding.
Mr. Mitchell said his son had been “trying to find a purpose” and “struggling to find a way,” the CBC reported.
He thanked the authorities “for finally taking action to prosecute Mr. Law.”
Jo Jakymec, a British prosector, said that trying to have Mr. Law extradited to Britain to face charges for the deaths he caused there “carried significant risk and was far from certain,” so it was better to have his case handled entirely in Canada.
Grieving families in Britain will be able to submit victim impact statements to the Canadian court, she said.
“This was not a decision taken lightly, but it is the approach that best delivers justice while avoiding the real risk that the harm caused in England and Wales would never have been recognized in any court,” Ms. Jakymec said in a statement.
“While no court hearing can undo the immense suffering caused to each victim and their families,” she said, “this resolution ensures that the scale of offending affecting England and Wales is formally recognized and will be reflected in the sentence imposed.”
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
Vjosa Isai contributed reporting.
