Duo acted like ‘shadow police’ in UK on behalf of China, court told

A retired Hong Kong police officer and Border Force official engaged in “shadow policing” on British soil on behalf of China, a court has heard.

Dual Chinese-British nationals Peter Wai, 38, and Bill Yuen, 65, are on trial at the Old Bailey on charges under the National Security Act.

Opening their trial on Wednesday, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said: “The defendants engaged in shadow policing operations on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and thereby the People’s Republic of China.”

They gathered information about “persons of interest” to Hong Kong and undertook surveillance, “acting as if they were entitled in this country to act as a law enforcement or state intelligence service, when no such entitlement existed”, Mr Atkinson said.

Yuen is a retired superintendent in the Hong Kong Police and was employed by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO) in London, said to be an extension in the UK of the Hong Kong government.

His role allegedly went beyond administration as he actively gathered intelligence useful to the Hong Kong authorities.

Among those he tasked was Wai, who worked as an officer with the UK Border Force and was a special constable with the City of London Police, the court was told.

Wai allegedly used systems he had access to to help with the shadow policing operations and ran a private security company as a vehicle for his activities.

The defendants’ activities coincided with Hong Kong authorities’ “determined measures” to overreach beyond their borders to people of interest to them, jurors were told.

Bounties amounting to £100,000 were offered for information to locate or capture a number of people – some UK residents – for their alleged links to pro-democracy protests, jurors were told.

The Hong Kong government had also made high-profile statements that “abscondees” would be “pursued for life”, the court was told.

The defendants allegedly received requests to gather intelligence about such UK-based “abscondees”.

Phone messages between Yuen and Wai indicated surveillance of pro-democracy protester Nathan Law, the court was told.

Jurors were told there was a bounty of one million Hong Kong dollars (£95,680) on Mr Law’s head for information leading to his capture.

Activities among Manchester’s Chinese community also came in for scrutiny, jurors heard.

Asked by Yuen if anyone had been “stirring up trouble” at a Colindale Asian centre, Wai replied that it was “low-key”.

He added: “Not a lot of Chinese people there, even the dragon dance was ‘gingerly’. We have eyes and ears in Manchester.”

The defendants were also interested in gathering intelligence on British politicians who supported the pro-democracy movement, the court was told.

In a discussion about China National Day events across the UK in 2021, Yuen told Wai to pay “special attention to the Government people or UK members of Parliament, local councillors”, jurors heard.

It was alleged Wai, and a recruit called Matthew Trickett, were paid directly from the HKETO bank account.

Another alleged target was Monica Kwong, who left Hong Kong in 2023 and was accused of fraud by her employer there, the court was told.

Whether or not Ms Kwong was “set up” as she claimed, Mr Atkinson asserted the defendants took “the law into their own hands” and acted “as if the UK law was of no relevance”.

Having located Ms Kwong living in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, they put a team together to access her home using “underhand means, deception and then force to achieve their ends”, the court was told.

They carried out surveillance and then tried to “trick” their way into her home by posing as electricians who had come to repair a fuse and pouring water under the front door to pretend there was a flood, jurors heard.

On his arrest at Ms Kwong’s home, Wai allegedly had his warrant card as a special police officer and a second – fake – card identifying him as a superintendent.

Mr Trickett, a 37-year-old immigration enforcement officer and ex-Royal Marine, had also gone to Ms Kwong’s address “with a view to taking hold of her”, jurors were told.

Mr Atkinson explained that Mr Trickett had played a “key role” in the defendants’ search for information but died on May 19 2024 and could not participate in the court case

Wai is accused of misconduct in a public office by abusing his access to the Home Office computer system and searching for names, including that of Ms Kwong.

In 2023, Wai also allegedly threatened to arrest a student who had confronted a Hong Kong diplomat at a protest outside the Guildhall in London and then got into the car with the official, even though he had no official police role.

The same Hong Kong student was at another protest at Whitehall in 2024 when he saw Wai enter an event attended by the Chinese ambassador, jurors heard.

Mr Atkinson outlined evidence that Wai was willing to use official systems to carry out unauthorised searches for third parties between 2018 and 2020.

He was part of a chatgroup called Eagle Point Human Resources Company to which he reported his efforts to infiltrate pro-democracy groups, jurors heard.

Another member of the chatgroup, a former chief superintendent of the Hong Kong Police called Eddie Ma, was allegedly involved in arranging a £2,000 retainer with bonus payments to Wai to provide intelligence.

In their chat, the two repeatedly described pro-democracy protesters as “cockroaches”.

Ma went on to “systematically” use Wai as source of intelligence in the UK, even asking for monthly figures of the number of “cockroaches” arriving in the country in 2021, the court was told.

Mr Atkinson said Wai’s willingness to gather intelligence for Ma appeared to have led him into direct contact with his co-accused Yuen.

The defendants are jointly charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service between December 20 2023 and May 2 2024, and a second charge of foreign interference on May 1 2024 by forcing entry into a UK residential address.

Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey; and Yuen, of Hackney, east London, have denied the charges against them.

The Old Bailey trial is due to go on for up to nine weeks.