EGN NEWS DESK
A former British marine charged with spying for Hong Kong’s intelligence service has died, in keeping with a police assertion launched on Tuesday night.
The man, who was named by the Thames Valley Police as Matthew Trickett, was discovered dead in a park in Maidenhead, a city west of London, on Sunday. Mr. Trickett was one in all three males charged final week underneath Britain’s National Security Act with helping the Hong Kong intelligence service, and their case was anticipated to return to courtroom on Friday.
Hong Kong is a former British colony and a particular administrative area of China, and tensions between London and Beijing have been ratcheting up in current months because the British authorities has turn into more and more vocal over allegations of Chinese espionage. In the wake of the fees final week, Britain summoned the Chinese ambassador for a reprimand.
Mr. Trickett, 37, who was a British immigration enforcement officer and a former Royal Marine, was additionally the director of a personal safety agency, MTR Consultancy.
According to the police, a member of the general public alerted the authorities to a state of affairs in Grenfell Park in Maidenhead on Sunday about 5:15 p.m. Mr. Trickett, who was from the world, was discovered and, regardless of the efforts of emergency responders, was pronounced dead on the web site.
“An investigation is ongoing into the demise, which is presently being handled as unexplained,” the police stated in a press release, including that “a autopsy will likely be carried out in the end.”
The police have appealed to the general public for any data that would assist in their investigation.
In a press release supplied to Reuters, Mr. Trickett’s household stated they have been “mourning the lack of a much-loved son, brother and member of the family.”
Mr. Trickett had been launched on bail after being charged with helping a international intelligence service and with international interference. The Metropolitan Police stated in a press release final week that “the international intelligence service to which the above fees relate is that of Hong Kong.”
The circumstances of Mr. Trickett’s bail required him to register at a police station commonly, in keeping with the Thames Valley Police. He was awaiting courtroom hearings that have been set to start on Friday in London’s central legal courtroom.
China’s crackdown on protesters and different advocates for democracy in Hong Kong has pushed a whole lot of hundreds of individuals to hunt refuge elsewhere over fears that they may very well be persecuted.
Since 2021, Britain has allowed some Hong Kong residents to settle within the nation underneath a particular visa program, and greater than 160,000 folks, together with high-profile activists, have arrived.
