‘Your inner self is red’: UK border officer accused of ‘infiltrating’ Hong Kong pro-democracy group

2026-03-06 - 13:55

A man facing national security charges in the UK provided information on pro-democracy dissidents to former Hong Kong police officers, a London court has heard. Matthew Trickett, Peter Wai and Bill Yuen. Photo: Composite. Former UK border officer Peter Wai, 38, and Bill Yuen, 65, a manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, face charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service and engaging in “shadow policing” for China on British soil. Both Wai and Yuen are dual British and Chinese nationals in the UK. They are also accused of foreign interference for an attempted break-in at a residence in the country. The two defendants deny the charges. On Wednesday, the first day of the trial, the prosecution presented the court text message records linking Wai and Yuen to former Hong Kong police officers: Chief Superintendents George Lee and Eddie Ma, as well as former officer Suen Wa-hing. As reported by the BBC, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said Wai posted information about Hong Kong protesters in a WhatsApp group called Eagle Point Human Resources Company. Afterwards, he received a reply, “Wai Sir, salute to you on behalf of the country,” referring to China. Ma tasked Wai with “infiltrating” a pro-democracy group called “Hongkongers in the UK.” Wai allegedly told the WhatsApp group he had supported young people and their families, leading them to believe he was “yellow” – the symbolic colour of Hong Kong’s democracy movement. The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, in London. File photo: Wikicommons. One person in the chat group told Wai not to forget he “is yellow” on the surface but “your inner self is red,” according to Hong Kong media outlet The Witness. Wai used Home Office and police computer systems to conduct searches on people from Hong Kong applying for asylum in the UK, according to the prosecution. Ma stayed in touch with Wai and paid him £2,000 (HK$20,845) per month plus additional payments for valuable intelligence. Foreign interference On the second day of the trial on Thursday, the prosecution showed footage of a break-in operation by Wai, Yuen, and the late British immigration enforcement officer Matthew Trickett, Green Media reported. Charges against Trickett were dropped after he was found dead in a park in Maidenhead, near his home, on May 19, 2024, less than a week after the trio was charged. Wai and Trickett allegedly forced entry into the Pontefract residence of Monica Kwong, a British National (Overseas) passport holder who allegedly defrauded her former employer, YearShine Investment Ltd, of more than HK$144 million. Kwong said the fraud was a “setup” by her ex-employer. Yuen faces the same break-in charge but was not present at the scene. Along with private investigators and personnel from YearShine, Wai and Trickett conducted surveillance at Kwong’s home in late January 2024 and attempted to enter the residence on April 30 and May 1 that year. Body-cam footage obtained by the prosecution and played in court on Thursday showed Trickett posing as a maintenance worker and pouring water from a large jug under Kwong’s door to stage a “leak” as a pretext for entry. The video also showed Cheuk Wing-cheun, a Hong Kong police officer understood to be friendly with Yuen, and Kwong’s former boss, Tina Zou, present at the scene. The prosecution said on Wednesday that Yuen and Wai “undertook surveillance on [Kwong’s] address, as if they were a legitimate UK police operation,” according to the BBC. The court also heard that Yuen instructed Wai to invoice Hong Kong’s London trade office after the January surveillance. Through his firm, D5 Security, Wai invoiced the office for £16,350 (HK$170,900) for security services.