LONDON: A former member of the UK’s Royal Marines, bailed by a court last week over allegations of assisting Hong Kong’s intelligence services in a Chinese-linked espionage case, has been found dead, British police said Tuesday.
Matthew Trickett, 37, was found dead in a park in Maidenhead, west of London, on Sunday following a report by a member of the public, Thames Valley Police said.
Trickett had more recently been employed as an immigration enforcement officer and private investigator, the UK’s PA news agency reported.
“An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained,“ the police force said in a statement.
Trickett, from southeast England, was one of three men accused in the Hong Kong spy case.
He was formerly employed by the UK Border Force at Heathrow Airport, before joining Home Office Immigration Enforcement on February 21, 2024, PA said.
He was also the director of MTR Consultancy, a security firm formed in April 2021.
He was released on bail along with Chi Leung Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, pending their next court appearance, scheduled to take place on Friday.
The three were charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and with foreign interference, in violation of the 2023 National Security Act.
The act came into force in December and is designed to bolster UK national security against “hostile activity” targeting the country’s democratic institutions, economy and values.
Police said earlier the “foreign intelligence service” in question was Hong Kong’s.
China’s foreign affairs commissioner in its territory of Hong Kong “strongly condemned” Britain for “cooking up charges” and accused it of a “vicious intention to interfere” in Hong Kong’s affairs.
The office warned that Britain would receive “China’s firm and strong retaliation”.