Ex-Royal Marine charged with spying for Hong Kong found dead in park

A former Royal Marine commando who was charged with spying for the Hong Kong intelligence service has died, police have said.

Matthew Trickett, 37, who was on bail, was found by a member of the public in a park near where he lived in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Trickett appeared in court along with two other men last week accused of monitoring, surveillance and harassment of pro-democracy activists in the UK.

His profile on LinkedIn lists him as being a former Royal Marine commando. He was in the marines between 2007 and 2013. Trickett was a Home Office immigration enforcement officer and also ran a private security consultancy.

The three spoke only to confirm their names, ages and addresses at an initial hearing at Westminster magistrates court. They were not asked for a plea. They were due to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday.

During the earlier hearing, the court was told that while in custody Trickett had attempted to take his own life and made threats to his own life.

Trickett, Yuen and Wai were charged with engaging in unlawful information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception between 20 December 2023 and 2 May 2024, contrary to section 3 (1) and (9) of the National Security Act 2023.

They were also accused of forcing entry into a UK residential address on 1 May this year, being reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or course of conduct of which it forms part, would have an interference effect, contrary to section 13 (2) and (7) of the act.

Wai, a dual Chinese and British national from Staines, Surrey, works in Border Force at Heathrow. He is also a City of London special constable and the founder of a private security firm.

The men were required to report weekly to a local police station, were subject to a 10pm-5am curfew and were banned from travelling abroad.

They were also told to hand over their passports, register internet-connected devices with police, not use any internet concealing tools such as a VPN, and were told to sleep at their designated home addresses.

The three defendants were originally detained as part of a larger operation in which 11 people were arrested earlier this month. Nine men and a woman were arrested by officers in Yorkshire and one man was arrested in London, the Met said.

The seven men and one woman who were not charged were released from custody.

Thames Valley police are asking anyone with information to come forward, particularly anyone who was in Grenfell Park on Sunday afternoon prior to 5.15pm.