UK police say death of Hong Kong spying suspect Matthew Trickett not suspicious, days after city official calls for clarity
- Thames Valley Police confirm Trickett’s death ‘not being treated as suspicious’ after completing postmortem
- Beijing’s foreign ministry arm in Hong Kong expresses dissatisfaction with UK over ‘smearing’ of China and prosecution of citizens based in Britain
Thames Valley Police announced on Friday afternoon that a postmortem was completed on behalf of the coroner two days earlier.
“As a result of this and further inquiries conducted by detectives, we can confirm the death is not being treated as suspicious. Thames Valley Police is now preparing a file for the coronial process,” it said.
“Mr Trickett’s family are being supported by specialist officers, our thoughts remain with them, and we would kindly ask that their privacy is respected at this difficult time.”
The 37-year-old ex-Royal Marine was among three suspects earlier charged under the United Kingdom’s National Security Act with assisting an overseas intelligence service and foreign interference between December 2023 and May of this year.
Trickett, alongside Bill Yuen Chung-biu, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and Peter Wai Chi-leung, 38, a director of a private security firm, were released on bail by a court on May 13.
But he was later found dead in Grenfell Park in Maidenhead, a kilometre away from his correspondence address in the town west of London, last Sunday. Police at the time classified the death as “unexplained”.
