The two men were found to have carried out intel gathering missions on political dissidents residing in the UK wanted by Chinese authorities. One witness reported the pair threatened to arrest him on foreign soil due to his continued opposition.
The United Kingdom accused China on Thursday after two UK-Chinese dual nationals were convicted of conducting “shadow policing” on UK soil on behalf of the Chinese government.
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London also said it would summon China's ambassador after a jury at London’s Old Bailey court found 38-year-old Peter Wai – a former UK Border Force official – and 65-year-old Bill Yuen – a retired Hong Kong police superintendent – guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the UK’s national security laws following a weeks-long trial.
The jury, which deliberated for nearly 24 hours, was discharged after failing to reach verdicts on a further foreign interference charge against each defendant.
Prosecutors said they would not seek a re-trial and the pair were remanded into custody ahead of sentencing on a date which will be set on 15 May.
Wai, who previously served in the British police and the Royal Navy, was also convicted of misconduct in a public office. He had searched the interior ministry's computer system for people of interest to Hong Kong authorities.
The court heard how Wai had gathered intelligence on the orders of Yuen, who was a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO), which represents Hong Kong's government in London.
The pair reportedly targeted Hong Kong dissidents and pro-democracy protesters who had sought refuge in the UK amid government crackdowns, with "special attention" also paid to politicians, including senior Conservative Iain Duncan Smith.
They carried out information gathering missions, including surveillance and acts of deception. One operation allegedly involved photographing prominent Hong Kong activist and campaigner Nathan Law, who resides in London.
Messages on Yuen's phone showed surveillance of Law began as early as 2021.
Their operations coincided with bounties posted by Hong Kong of around £100,000 (€115,600) for information which would lead authorities to identify several UK-based activists, including Law, jurors heard.
A protester who testified during the legal proceedings told the jury that Wai had threatened him with arrest for confronting a Hong Kong diplomat in the British capital.
The defendants' activities were exposed when police foiled an alleged bid to snatch a former Hong Kong resident from her flat in the northern county of Yorkshire in May 2024.
Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames – southwest of London – known to associates by the alias ‘Fatboy’, and Yuen, of Hackney in east London, had both denied wrongdoing.