British families confront Canadian poison seller in court as parents of boy, 14, say loss has 'irrevocably shattered' their lives

From the Newshound archive · first published 23 September 2026 · last updated 24 September 2026.

Kate and Graham Tucker addressed an Ontario court to describe how their son Henry, 14, from Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, had been wrongly diagnosed with autism and anorexia before he bought lethal sodium nitrite online from Kenneth Law and died in October 2021. Investigators looking into his death discovered he had an undiagnosed neurological condition treatable with antibiotics. His parents said that knowing his death could have been prevented was 'a weight that is impossible to bear'. British survivor Elisabeth Belien, 23 at the time she took the poison, also faced Law in the dock and told him he had made it 'a lot easier to act on despair'.

Law, 60, a former chef from Mississauga, Ontario, pleaded guilty in May to 14 counts of aiding suicide across Canada.

Prosecutors say 79 UK deaths — including Henry Tucker's — will be considered at next month's sentencing, though Law faces no charges over British deaths under his plea deal.

'Mr Law robbed my son of that chance to be well,' father Stephen Mitchell Sr told the court, describing his son Stephen Jr, 21, as 'gentle, incredibly intelligent and loyal'.