UK immigration officers 'working for China' arrested after forcing entry into flat, court hears

Two UK immigration officers who had allegedly been hired by a Chinese-Australian woman were arrested after forcing entry into a flat in Pontefract, a jury has heard.

The moment the door to the flat was forced was recorded on an audio eavesdropping device - a bug - that UK law enforcement had put in the flat.

One of the UK immigration officers - Chi Leung "Peter" Wai - is on trial at the Old Bailey. The other - former Royal Marine Matthew Trickett - was found dead in May 2024 after he had been arrested and bailed.

Wai denies charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference, and a charge of misconduct in public office while conducting searches of Home Office databases.

Wai, 38, is on trial with Chung Biu "Bill" Yuen, 65 who works for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO). Both face charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference.

Yuen also denies the charges.

The prosecution says Yuen was the link between Wai and the authorities in China. The two have told detectives that they met at a restaurant in Chinatown in London.

Wai had been a Metropolitan Police officer between 2015 and 2019, before joining UK Border Force in 2020, and he was a volunteer Special Constable with the City of London Police.

The prosecution says that Wai took advantage of his access to the Home Office's Atlas immigration database as part of his private security work. The prosecution says he used the Atlas database to find out information about people from Hong Kong who were living in the UK, including some who were dissidents and who were claiming asylum.

Wai knew Trickett as they had both worked as Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport, though Trickett later moved into Immigration Enforcement.

At the end of April 2024, Wai and Trickett, who both owned private security companies, were in Pontefract in West Yorkshire where a woman called Monica Kwong lived with her school-age son.

The prosecution says they wanted to check that she lived there and had arranged for her to be filmed answering the door to a parcel delivery. In the video she can be seen wearing pink pyjamas with her son behind her.

A Chinese-Australian woman called Tina Zou claimed that Kwong owed her money. She flew in to the UK from China on 28 April, and joined two former Hong Kong police officers who had also flown in. They all travelled up to Pontefract. Trickett was already in Pontefract with Wai.

Zou was there when Trickett knocked on Kwong's door on 30 April. He got no reply. One of the group recorded the moment on video.

The prosecution said that the next day, 1 May, they returned to the flat. At first, Trickett poured water under the door and then knocked, saying that there was a "leak" and he was "Dave from maintenance". Again there was no reply.

Later that evening, an audio eavesdropping device that had been placed in the flat by UK law enforcement recorded some bangs and muffled sounds which the prosecution says was the moment the group forced entry to the flat.

The prosecution has described it as "a shadow police operation by Hong Kong personnel on UK soil".

The jury heard that shortly afterwards, British police officers arrested eleven people in the flat or nearby. They included Wai, Trickett and Zou, two drivers, and the two former Hong Kong police officers.

Trickett was found dead 18 days later after being bailed.

The trial is expected to last six or seven weeks.