The figures coming out of the Kenneth Law case in Toronto, are little short of astonishing. Mr Law, 60, has pleaded guilty to sending 1,200 lethal packages to people in 41 separate countries. 330 of these were sent to Britain, where 79 of them were used for suicide.
He has now pleaded guilty. The Canadian prosecution authorities have dropped the “first degree murder” charges but will be bringing charges under their “counselling or aiding a suicide” legislation. Such charges carry a prison sentence of up to fourteen years.
A number of intriguing questions flow from all this.
If 330 lethal packages were sent to people in the UK but only 79 were actually used, then what happened to the other 251 ? Were they used in unsuccessful attempts or are they still hanging around in bathroom cabinets awaiting possible use in the future. Is there actually a record anywhere of all 330 addresses ?
Also, how on earth did he expect to get away with it ? He may have believed in the rightness of his actions but they were undoubtedly heavily influenced by cash. He was doing it for the money. It was a criminal activity from the very start. If 1,200 people were able to find him as a source of supply, then why did it take the police so long to catch up ?
Finally, the scale of Mr Law’s activities is surprising in itself. By our own estimates, there were only between 650 and 680 VADs (Voluntary Assisted Deaths) for non-Swiss citizens in Switzerland last year. It is a well-known and well-covered legal activity. Yet nearly double that number were able to buy illegal suicide potions from a single dealer in Toronto.
One of the sensible arguments put forward by all the VAD providers in Switzerland is that their work actually reduces personal suicide attempts. Such attempts frequently fail and the results of such failures can be dreadful.
Kenneth Law has been caught. How long before a successor tries the same thing ?
