Mothers Describe Family Devastation at Kenneth Law Sentencing

Tanya Whitaker's video statement to an Ontario courtroom began with her breaking down before she could finish a sentence. "He barely had a chance," she said of her son, Samuel, a University of Warwick student found collapsed outside his halls of residence after taking poison sold by Kenneth Law, according to the BBC.

Whitaker's statement, delivered on the second day of Law's four-day sentencing hearing, was one of several from British mothers describing how their children's deaths reshaped their families. Law has admitted 14 counts of aiding suicide in Canada and has been linked to nearly 80 deaths in the UK, the BBC reported. A plea deal with Canadian authorities means he will not face charges in the UK or over any British deaths, but statements from those families are being read into the Canadian court record this week.

What did Samuel Whitaker's mother tell the court?

Whitaker told the court her son was 19 when he died. "Samuel was just 19 when he was handed the tools that ended his precious life," she said, according to the BBC. "The enormity of losing a child is catastrophic."

She described the aftermath in stark terms: "It has broken me completely and utterly. It has broken us as a family and me as a mother." Samuel died at university roughly 100 miles from his family, she said, adding, "We will never be able to forgive ourselves for this happening."

Whitaker also said Samuel had been the only biological son of her husband, Paul, and that grief had left him "a shell of himself today. Broken and devastated beyond repair."

What did Danielle Cornish's mother say in her statement?

Debbie Cornish, whose daughter Danielle died after taking poison sold by Law, submitted a written statement referring to Law only by his initials, KL. "Words on paper can't even begin to describe the painful loss of our amazing daughter," she wrote, per the BBC. "Nothing will be the same ever again as we are part of a surreal nightmare."

Cornish said her family was still struggling nearly four years after Danielle's death. "Nearly four years on, we are still fighting to keep our family together... not to mention the constant thoughts of how she may have died," she wrote. "KL has changed the life of many many families all across the world as well as ours. We are living a constant nightmare."

Who else spoke at the hearing?

The court also heard from Faith George, the mother of Faith Ike-Elechi, whom she called by the nickname Chimma. George told the court she found her daughter on the floor after she had taken the poison, and said her daughter's last words "echo in my mind every day," according to the BBC's account of the hearing.

Why won't Law face charges in the UK?

Under the terms of a plea deal reached with Canadian authorities, Law will not be prosecuted in the UK or for any deaths of British victims, the BBC reported. Instead, statements from affected UK families are being entered into the record of his Ontario sentencing hearing this week, giving relatives a formal opportunity to address the court even though no separate UK proceeding will occur.

How was Law caught?

Law, a former chef, sold about 1,200 packages of toxic substances to buyers in 40 countries whom he met through online suicide forums, authorities told the BBC. Roughly a quarter of those packages were sent to the UK. He was arrested in May 2023 following an investigation involving at least 11 law-enforcement agencies and investigators from around a dozen countries, including the UK, Italy and the United States, according to the BBC's reporting.

The sentencing hearing in Ontario is scheduled to run four days, with additional victim statements expected as it continues.

Read the full BBC report: "It has broken us as a family," mother of poison seller victim tells hearing