Two men have been jailed at the Old Bailey for spying for China, in a case centred on the surveillance and harassment of Hong Kong dissidents living in Britain. Peter Wai was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while his co-defendant, 66-year-old Bill Huan, was given eight years. Both are British nationals of Chinese heritage who were convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
The case drew particular concern because of the roles Wai had held within British institutions. The court heard that he had served in the Royal Navy, joined the Metropolitan Police in 2015, and resigned from the force in 2019. The following year he joined the Border Force, working at Heathrow Airport, where he held an airside pass that gave him access to secure areas.
The two men were convicted of conduct likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service in carrying out activities related to the United Kingdom. The court heard this involved information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception. Prosecutors said the pair knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that what they were doing was likely to aid a foreign power.
At the heart of the case was a sustained campaign directed at a Hong Kong dissident living in Britain and her family. The court was told that a group travelling from Hong Kong was brought to the area where she lived with her young son, and that information about her had been gathered and passed on. The activity formed part of efforts to track and intimidate people who had sought the protection of British law.
The court also heard that searches were carried out on a Home Office system for information about individuals, including details linked to immigration status and the reasons certain people were not being prosecuted. The judge observed that such material might seem innocuous in isolation, but together it allowed a picture to be built of how the authorities approached particular people and situations. References were also made to the movement of money and to individuals connected to several countries.
Passing sentence, the judge said national security offences threaten not only individual victims but the sovereignty of the state and public confidence in its institutions. He stressed that deterrence must be a central consideration in sentencing for such crimes. Those who lend themselves to the purposes of a foreign power, he said, must expect severe punishment even where actual damage cannot be shown to have resulted.
The statutory maximum for the most serious charge in the case was 14 years in prison. Prosecutors presented the conduct as part of a wider pattern of transnational pressure placed on members of the Hong Kong community in Britain, including efforts to pursue dissidents abroad. The sentencing brings to a close a prosecution that authorities had treated as a significant national security matter.