Hong Kong government employee denies ordering surveillance of UK dissidents

A man accused of organising a "shadow policing" operation on behalf of China has denied ordering surveillance of Hong Kong dissidents in the UK.

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Monday, Chung Biu "Bill" Yuen, a former Hong Kong police officer, also told jurors how a dissident protestor had cursed his "whole family to die".

He said he had never tasked Chi Leung "Peter" Wai - a former UK Border Force officer with whom he is standing trial - with spying on dissidents in London.

Both men, who have British and Hong Kong passports,deny charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference.

Wai, who previously worked for the Metropolitan Police and was a volunteer Special Constable with the City of London Police, also denies a charge of misconduct in public office in relation to conducting searches of Home Office databases.

Yuen told the jury that he retired as a superintendent in the Hong Kong Police Force at the age of 55, and moved to the UK to join his wife and children immediately.

He said that he got a job as an office manager at the the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in central London a few months later, in August 2015.

Yuen told the court that, after 2019's pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, there were regular demonstrations outside the HKETO in London and security became a bigger part of his job.

He said he and his boss had regular meetings with the Diplomatic Protection Group (DPG) of the Metropolitan Police.

Asked by his barrister Jonathan Caplan KC if the DPG had ever sent help for the protests, Yuen said "sometimes yes, sometimes no".

He told the court that, on one occasion, protestors put flares through HKETO's letterbox.

Yuen also said that when Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong Teresa Cheng visited in November 2019, she had no police motorbikes nor DPG officers to help her.

"She had nothing", he told the court, and said she broke her wrist after being pushed to the ground by protestors.

Yuen said he was asked to find a company to help with security after the incident.

He said he met Peter Wai at a restaurant in Chinatown, and was told that he was a police officer before later finding out he also ran a private security company - and so asked him to help with security for HKETO.

Yuen denied commissioning Wai to carry out surveillance of Hong Kong dissidents based in London, including "never" having asked him to spy on pro-democracy activist Nathan Law.

Yeun said he asked Wai to provide security for Christopher Hui, Hong Kong's secretary for financial services and the treasury, when he faced protests in London in 2023.

The jury was shown a video of a demonstrator blocking the minister's car with Wai sitting in the front passenger seat.

Yuen told the court that he had been sitting the back of the vehicle at the time, and that one protestor "shout[ed] my name and cursed my whole family to die".

He said it was only when he was arrested that he discovered that Wai was no longer a police officer, and was now a Border Force officer - and that his superintendent ID was fake.

Yuen, of Hackney, east London, and Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, both deny charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service, and foreign interference.

Wai also denies a charge of misconduct in public office in relation to conducting searches of Home Office databases.

Yuen's evidence continues, and the trial is expected to end next month.