A former Royal Marine accused by the British authorities of spying for the Chinese-controlled Hong Kong authorities has been found dead in what police call unexplained circumstances.
Matthew Trickett, a 37-year-old former Royal Marine who had worked, post-service, for UK Border Force and as a Home Office immigration enforcement officer, and who also ran a security consultancy was found dead in Grenfell Park, in Maidenhead, on Sunday. Police responded to a call from the public of a body having been discovered and attempted to revive the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
After identification was complete police announced on Tuesday the man was Trickett, who lived in Maidenhead. Police said the death was “unexplained” and they had launched an investigation.
Police next to a black forensics tent in Grenfell Park, Maidenhead where Matthew Trickett was found dead on Sunday, he had been accused of assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service. Picture date: Tuesday May 21, 2024. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
Trickett had been one of 11 people arrested in May under powers given to police under a new espionage law. Of that group three were subsequently charged with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service and foreign interference between late 2023 and early 2024. It is alleged the men also broke into a home in the United Kingdom on May 1st.
Hong Kong, a former British territory was ‘handed back’ to China in 1997 as part of London’s 20th century policy of dissolving the former British Empire, whether such a move was in the best interests of respective parties or not. China had initially promised to not impose Chinese socialism on Hong Kong, and to respect the freedoms Hongkongers had become accustomed to, but by the early 21st century these principles had been cast aside.
The UK is now absorbing large numbers of Hong Kong refugees fleeing the persecution against protesters by the Chinese state, cracking down on views including that Hong Kong was better run under British rule.
The Hong Kong intelligence service the three men are accused of assisting now is a puppet of the wider Chinese security apparatus. Indeed, this is evidenced by the fact when the accusations against the three were made, it was China’s intelligence service that issued a denial, calling the charged “groundless and slanderous”.
The other men charged were 38-year-old Chi Leung (Peter) Wai and 63-year-old Chung Biu Yuen, the office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. In their last court appearance, the court heard that Trickett had already attempted to commit suicide after being charged once, Sky News reports. The men were due to appear in court again this week on Friday.