A retired police superintendent has told a London court he was not employed by the Hong Kong government to spy on its political opponents in Britain, directly contradicting allegations he engaged in “shadow policing” for a foreign intelligence service.
Bill Yuen, 65, a dual Chinese-British national, gave evidence at the Old Bailey where he is standing trial alongside Border Force official Peter Wai, 38. The pair are charged under the National Security Act 2023 with assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference, accusations they both deny.
“Shadow Policing” Allegations
The prosecution, led by Duncan Atkinson KC, alleges that Yuen and Wai conducted “shadow policing operations” on British soil for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the People’s Republic of China. The court has heard this involved gathering intelligence on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in the UK and monitoring British politicians sympathetic to their cause.
Specifically, Yuen denies tasking Wai to gather such intelligence or to pay special attention to supportive politicians. He also rejected an accusation that he asked Wai to conduct surveillance on a high-profile dissident, Nathan Law. Law, a former Hong Kong legislator now living in exile in the UK, has been pictured outside the Oxford Union and reportedly has a bounty of HK$1 million on his head.
Under cross-examination, Mr Atkinson suggested Yuen’s move from the Hong Kong police to a London-based role was a seamless transition to continue intelligence work. “You moved from the Hong Kong police to a role in London that allowed you to continue to act as an investigator for Hong Kong, to gather information for Hong Kong,” the prosecutor asserted. Yuen replied: “Absolutely not.”
From Police to Trade Office
Yuen served in the Hong Kong police from 1997 to 2015, retiring with the rank of superintendent. He moved to London upon retirement and, six months later in August 2015, began work at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London as an office manager—a role described as the third most senior in the organisation.
The HKETO London is the official representation of the HKSAR Government in the UK, tasked with fostering bilateral economic relations. Yuen told the jury he found the job by responding to an advertisement in May 2015 and was hired after a Zoom interview. He insisted it was a coincidence, stating: “Strictly speaking I wasn’t a civil servant of Hong Kong because I have never had the chance of receiving any promotion, it is a post for local employees.”
The prosecutor questioned the timing, asking if it was “just a coincidence” that within months of retirement he was working again for the Hong Kong government. Yuen maintained that it was, adding: “If they really want me to do so they should ask a Hong Kong officer to do it, they don’t need to hire a 66-year-old man to do it.” The Hong Kong government has confirmed it is funding Yuen’s legal fees.
The Co-defendant and the Alleged Operation
The court heard that Yuen employed a private security firm run by his co-defendant, Peter Wai, to provide protection for the HKETO and visiting dignitaries. Yuen said he believed Wai was a high-ranking British police officer and only discovered he was a Border Force official and a special constable with the City of London Police after his own arrest.
Wai faces an additional charge of misconduct in a public office for allegedly misusing his access to the Home Office computer system to conduct unauthorised searches. The prosecution alleges this system was misused as part of the intelligence-gathering operation.
The charges against both men span from 20 December 2023 to 2 May 2024. A second charge of foreign interference relates to an alleged forced entry into a UK residential address on 1 May 2024. A third man, Matthew Trickett, a former Home Office immigration enforcement investigator, was initially charged alongside them but was found dead in May 2024 after being granted bail.
The trial, which began on 2 March 2026, is proceeding under the National Security Act 2023. This legislation created new offences to counter state threats, with the offence of assisting a foreign intelligence service designed to reduce the ability of foreign agencies to conduct hostile activity in the UK, going beyond traditional espionage laws.
Yuen has also described to the jury how pro-democracy protests spread from Hong Kong to London from 2019 onwards, including incidents outside the HKETO office where he worked. The trial continues.
