Kenneth Law’s sentencing hears from United Kingdom victims’ families

Family members who will never see Kenneth Law face trial in their own country for his role in the deaths of their loved ones shared their struggles with grief and emptiness in an Ontario court on Thursday as the man who sold potentially deadly substances online faced a sentencing hearing.

Relatives of some of the 79 people in the United Kingdom who took their own lives using products purchased from Law described the devastating toll of their loss in written statements and videos.

The mother of Faith Ike-Elechi said she is haunted by her daughter’s last words and the pain and fear she saw in the 21-year-old’s eyes in those final moments in 2022.

“She continued saying, ‘I’m sorry, I drank it.’ Those were the last words I heard her speak,” she said in a statement read aloud by the Crown.

“As her mother, I will forever carry the heartbreaking belief that in those final moments, she desperately wished she could undo what had happened. As her mother, there was nothing I could do to save her.”

Nearly four years later, the mother said she still awakens to flashbacks and panic attacks, reliving those moments “over and over.”

There has been no closure with time and participating in an international criminal case has added to the strain, forcing them to reopen those wounds, she said. But she said it’s important that her daughter’s voice be heard through those who loved her.

“My hope is not only that justice is done, but that the profound human impact of these events is fully recognized. No legal outcome can bring my daughter back, but I hope this process will acknowledge the immeasurable loss that my family continues to endure every single day,” she said.

Law, a former chef from Mississauga, Ont., pleaded guilty earlier this year to 14 counts of aiding suicide in the deaths of 14 people in Ontario. The plea was entered weeks after he was set to stand trial on the charges and another 14 counts of first-degree murder related to the same victims.

Prosecutors have said they plan to withdraw the murder charges after Law is sentenced.

Though the charges only relate to the Ontario victims, the U.K. cases are being considered as part of the sentencing process.

At the time of Law’s plea, Britain’s National Crime Agency said it had agreed to have his offences in the U.K. included in the facts of his Canadian case so he “could be sentenced for the full extent of his offending within a single process in Canada,” rather than seeking his extradition.

The agency said that would allow victims and families in the U.K. to see Law held accountable for his crimes.

The decision was met with backlash from some families of those who died in the U.K., who said there would be no forum in their country to examine how the deaths were allowed to happen.

Michael Dunham’s father said Thursday all of the grieving families have been “living in limbo” for the last three years and Law’s plea means “this long nightmare journey is almost over.”

His last conversation with his son was an argument that led his son to go home early from their vacation in Croatia, he said in a statement read by the prosecution.

“I was expecting to see him when I got back after the cooling off period and sort out the quarrel, which we always did. … This unfortunately was not to be,” he said. When he returned in October 2021, he discovered his son had taken his own life two days earlier, he said. Michael Dunham was 38 at the time.

“The feeling I had was like an electric shock running through me. The pain was very intense and the agony was unbearable,” to the point where he considered taking his own life as well, his father said.

He only learned of Law’s involvement some 18 months later, and felt an “overwhelming anger,” he said.

The day Aimee Walton died four years ago, her family’s lives “changed forever and it will never be the same,” her sister Adele Walton told the court in a video.

A talented and passionate musician, Aimee Walton planned to study music technology in university but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, her sister said. Her mental health suffered during lockdown as she grew withdrawn and spent most of her time on her digital devices, she said.

She started her studies in the fall of 2021, but stopped after experiencing bullying and a mental breakdown, her sister said.

“In less than a year, she was dead. She died in a strange place … in the company of a stranger who she had met on a suicide forum,” she said.

Her absence grows sharper with time, and her family has grappled with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, she said.

“Before and since her death, we have been shocked, let down, and ignored by those in power, including mental health services, police forces, emergency services … government departments, ministers and many more,” she said.

“We have not had a single act from anyone in a position of power to make us feel that justice has been served to those who contributed to my sister’s death, nor did we see any act to make us feel that lessons have been learned and actions have been taken to save lives in the future.”

An agreed statement of fact read in court in May said Law ran several websites that were used to sell sodium nitrite and other products that can be used for self-harm.

He sent some 1,200 packages to people in more than 40 countries, including close to 160 packages shipped to addresses within Canada, it said.

More than a dozen victim impact statements were presented in court Wednesday, some in person, some read by prosecutors and some by video recording.

Several said Law preyed on people who were at their most vulnerable, robbing them of their future and leaving countless families grappling with grief.

Adrienne Dalli, whose brother Maurizio Vadala died in 2023, told the court it is “devastating” to know he was guided toward death instead of receiving the support he needed.

The hearing is scheduled to continue over several days.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press