\n<\/p>\n
M<\/span>onday would have been Aimee Walton\u2019s 25th birthday. But in 2022, the lover of music and art from Southampton took her own life after being groomed by another user on an online forum that glorified and enabled suicide. On Friday, 3,500 miles away, the man who sold her a toxic substance pleaded guilty in a Canadian courtroom to his part in 14 other fatal poisonings.<\/p>\n Kenneth Law, 60, is linked to at least 131 deaths worldwide, after using a collection of digital storefronts to target vulnerable youth. Investigators in the province of Ontario say Law shipped more than 1,200 packages \u2013 many containing a toxic substance \u2013 from his local post office to people in more than 40 countries; the vast majority went to the United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n Families whose loved ones died by suicide have for years said they were ignored by police and government officials as they searched for answers. Now, that frustration has calcified into a growing demand for a full public inquiry. They want to know how online pro-suicide forums \u2013 where vulnerable people are actively groomed and lethal substances are brazenly sold \u2013 can be allowed to operate. They want to know how the trade of those substances evaded detection for so long \u2013 and how one man was able to capitalise on a loosely regulated market, profiting off death and devastation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scale of Kenneth Law\u2019s crimes in the UK could make him one of the most prolific mass killers in British modern history. It\u2019s insane that no one really is talking about that. Few people in the general public have heard of him,\u201d said Aimee\u2019s sister Adele, an investigative journalist in London. On Tuesday, she met Keir Starmer and pressed him to launch a public inquiry into nearly 100 avoidable deaths.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping that my time with the prime minister might have given him a kick up the ass to move things forward.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Zeynep Walton in her sister\u2019s bedroom at the family home in Southampton. She has published a book, Logging Off \u2013 The Human Cost of Our Digital World.<\/span> Photograph: Peter Flude\/The Guardian<\/p>\n In October 2025, victims\u2019 families requested a public inquiry. They were rejected in March 2026. They have until June to appeal the decision. A planned meeting with ministers has faced numerous delays. \u201cWe\u2019ve been ignored and dismissed,\u201d said Walton. \u201cOur concerns aren\u2019t being heard.\u201d<\/p>\n In early May, the media regulator, Ofcom, used its powers under the Online Safety Act to fine the online suicide forum \u00a3950,000. But the site, which the Guardian has chosen not to name, remains easily accessible.<\/p>\n The challenge of unravelling the nested tragedies of suicide, criminality and predation on vulnerable young people has been made harder because such cases often span jurisdictions and continents.<\/p>\n Beginning in 2020, the former aerospace engineer began selling a substance that can be fatal in large concentrated quantities. To evade detection, Law offered other products such as hot sauces on his sites to give the illusion he was an industrial food preparation wholesaler. But he also sold suicide paraphernalia and gave detailed instructions about how to use the items.<\/p>\n <\/span>Aimee Walton (left), with her sister. Aimee took her own life after being groomed on an online pro-suicide forum.<\/span> Photograph: Adele Walton<\/p>\n Many of his customers were in the UK, including Tom Parfett, an \u201cabsolutely lovely man who had the ability to see the good in anyone,\u201d according to his father, David.<\/p>\n \u201cTom enjoyed a good conversation, enjoyed a good joke and was passionate about so many things,\u201d said David Parfett. \u201cHe had his problems, but people who knew him would have found him easy to get on with.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom died in October 2021 in Surrey at the age of 22. Driven by a desire to understand what had happened, Parfett retraced the digital trail that had led to his son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n \u201cIn less than three months, I had got myself onto a website, built enough credibility that someone told me about this poison. I was given instructions about how to kill myself,\u201d said Parfett. \u201cI actually got a package, from Law, of the same poison as my son had used. It was too easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Parfett contacted an editor at the Times, who also obtained the poison and confronted Law, who was arrested soon after by Canadian police.<\/p>\n In interviews, Law suggested he had sold the products on humanitarian grounds, citing his own mother, who had died after immense and prolonged suffering before physician-assisted death was widespread. But he also told the Globe and Mail: \u201cI need a source of income. I hope you can understand that. I need to feed myself.\u201d<\/p>\n In Canada, criminal code punishes anyone who \u201ccounsels or abets\u201d a person to die by suicide with a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. While the country\u2019s legal system eschews the lengthy, often symbolic sentences handed down by judges in the US, experts believe the scope of Law\u2019s actions suggest he will receive a llong prison term. A deal between Canadian prosecutors and the British national crime agency means Law\u2019s role in the deaths of nearly 100 people in the UK will also be considered by the judge in his sentencing.<\/p>\n While Law will spend years in jail, campaigners point out that the substance used in the deaths was used before he began selling it online. Beginning in 2019, coroners began linking deaths to the substance. Over the years, they issued more than three dozen \u201cprevention of future deaths\u201d reports. Government agencies were warned about what campaigners say is a predictable but entirely preventable harm that disproportionately affects young people.<\/p>\n <\/span>Tom Parfett died aged 22 after he was sold a lethal substance by Kenneth Law.<\/span> Photograph: David Parfett<\/p>\n Parfett says he still gets phone calls from families in Canada and the UK who have lost loved ones to the same substance that killed his son. \u201cIt\u2019s still happening. Law is in jail, but it\u2019s still happening. So when I think about justice, it\u2019s not getting more calls from people who have lost someone.\u201d<\/p>\n Walton is also an advocate for bereaved families and has published a book that exposes how social media and technology companies exploit human vulnerability. Her activism has helped memorialise her sister: the talented, creative, funny, and vulnerable woman who struggled with her mental health.<\/p>\n Walton said that families like hers were grappling with a \u201csocietal stigma\u201d around people who die by suicide. \u201cThey\u2019re just dismissed. From coroners to police departments, there\u2019s a feeling that our loved ones\u2019 lives are not taken as seriously,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Walton said the saga reflected a need to rethink society\u2019s and legislators\u2019 \u201cwhack-a-mole approach\u201d to pursuing bad actors. \u201cWe put one sinister person away, but the broader problem is the fact that there is little accountability for individuals like Law on such a broad societal scale,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Still, she said the guilty plea was a \u201creaffirming\u201d moment. \u201cThis trial was a moment not to let our government off the hook \u2013 but to show how desperately we need a public inquiry. The guilty plea doesn\u2019t lessen the need for justice, it makes it more vital.\u201d<\/p>\n Walton said little had been done to investigate the external factors that contributed to the deaths, especially in a largely unregulated and unchecked online world. Aimee was involuntarily detained for psychiatric assessment, yet she had her devices with her and was able to access the suicide forum.<\/p>\n \u201cMental health providers don\u2019t seem to be aware of this and don\u2019t appear to be trained on recognising red flags when it comes to vulnerable people in hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n Many victims, including Aimee, were also neurodivergent and had conditions that put people at higher risk of dying by suicide. Walton also suggested paramedics be better educated about the availability of the substance, how to reverse its symptoms and how to treat it effectively.<\/p>\n In Canada, the federal health agency has not taken steps to restrict access to the substance. Instead, Health Canada says it plans to educate doctors about the possibility for misuse. It also wants to see hospitals stock up on drugs which can reverse the toxic effects.<\/p>\n <\/span>Tom had grown into an \u2018absolutely lovely man who had the ability to see the good in anyone\u2019, said his dad.<\/span> Photograph: David Parfett<\/p>\n Parfett said that, while there was a need for online forums that gave a sense of community for people who were struggling, lawmakers had been slow to adapt to the mounting threats.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the credit of investigators, much of this is new \u2013 or it was when Tom died. They were doing what they\u2019re trained to do,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at a certain point, how many coroners reports are needed to show something needs to be done?\u201d<\/p>\n The interim years since his son\u2019s death have been a series of hard-won lessons in how to approach mental health, and the need for openness in speaking about the challenges people face.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Tom was 20 years older, growing up pre-internet, I\u2019m pretty sure he\u2019d be here today. He would have found the right support, a way through. There wouldn\u2019t have been a community of people actively encouraging him and selling him a poison to kill himself,\u201d said Parfett. \u201cThrough all my work, I\u2019m thinking about my three-year-old grandson and trying to make sure, when he\u2019s Tom\u2019s age, lives in a safer online world.\u201d<\/p>\n In Canada, you can call or text the Suicide Crisis Helpline on 988. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Monday would have been Aimee Walton\u2019s 25th birthday. But in 2022, the lover of music and art from Southampton took her own life after being groomed by another user on an online forum that glorified and enabled suicide. 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