--- title: "CBC documentary says police held Kenneth Law packets before arrest" description: "Sentencing hearing pauses until November as CBC documentary raises questions about police delay before Kenneth Law’s 2023 arrest." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-09-28T18:03:39.136Z modified: 2026-09-29T17:15:02Z url: https://rews.cc/a/cbc-documentary-says-police-held-kenneth-law-packets-before--a0b1ae language: en tags: ["suicide", "crime", "police", "health", "internet", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # CBC documentary says police held Kenneth Law packets before arrest *Sentencing hearing pauses until November as CBC documentary raises questions about police delay before Kenneth Law’s 2023 arrest.* By rews desk · September 28, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/cbc-documentary-says-police-held-kenneth-law-packets-before--a0b1ae ## In brief - CBC documentary says police held Kenneth Law’s poison packets about a year before his May 2023 arrest - Law, 61, pleaded guilty in May 2026 to aiding 14 suicides in Ontario after shipping 1,200+ packages to 40+ countries - CBC investigation ties Law to at least 147 deaths worldwide; he admitted to 79 deaths in Britain - UK will not prosecute despite 112 deaths investigated by National Crime Agency - Sentencing hearing’s first phase closed after 74 victim impact statements; legal arguments resume November 27 A documentary broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation presents evidence that police had packets of poison sold online by Kenneth Law in their possession about a year before they arrested him in May 2023, according to CBC. Law, 61, of Mississauga, Ontario, pleaded guilty in May 2026 to counselling or aiding 14 suicides in Ontario, admitting his websites shipped more than 1,200 packages of a substance often used as a food preservative to customers in at least 40 countries between 2021 and 2023, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court and reported by the Globe and Mail. The documentary, titled *The Poison Seller* and streamed on CBC Gem from September 28, follows families of victims and the journalists and investigators who tracked Law, according to CBC. It includes the case of Stephen Mitchell Jr., 21, of Ontario, who died on March 25, 2023, with a package of the poison at the scene, weeks before Law’s arrest. [![Poison seller Kenneth Law pleads guilty to abetting 14 suicides](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NakZBXtL584/hqdefault.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NakZBXtL584) CBC News reports on Kenneth Law’s May 2026 guilty plea to 14 counts of aiding suicide in Ontario. Video: CBC News: The National · YouTube “I thought it was likely an accident until we actually saw the suicide packet that had our address,” Stephen Mitchell Sr., the victim’s father, said in the documentary. “It was mailed to Stephen.” Mitchell said police told the family they had seen that type of package before. “At that point, we were thinking, ‘Why haven’t you stopped this? Why is it they’ve allowed this to happen for so long?’” he said. > “There were opportunities to take this business out of circulation before \[Stephen Jr. died\].” Globe and Mail reporter Colin Freeze made that assessment in the documentary, noting that the offences Law was charged with date to September 2021, a year and a half before Mitchell’s death. Freeze said the case amounted to “a very 21st-century crime, trying to be jammed into a 20th-century legal system,” adding that courts lacked laws to address a suspect “causing mass death globally through online internet sales.” David Ramirez, whose 20-year-old daughter Noelle died in Colorado after ingesting poison later traced to Law, said in the documentary that no U.S. investigator had examined her computer, which the family found contained posts on a suicide forum and evidence someone had advised her on the quantity needed to die. “They show no interest,” Ramirez said of the FBI and police. A CBC investigation has tied Law to at least [147 deaths worldwide](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kenneth-law-150-deaths-9.7215267), though the outlet said the true number may never be known. Law separately admitted responsibility, as part of his Canadian plea, for 79 deaths in Britain, according to an [agreed statement of facts confirmed by the UK Crown Prosecution Service](https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/cps-statement-following-kenneth-law-guilty-pleas), which said 73 of those deaths occurred in England and Wales, five in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland. Britain’s National Crime Agency said it investigated 112 deaths linked to websites supplying the substance but that Law would not face prosecution or extradition there. Damon Hayes, head of the agency’s international corruption unit, said including Law’s British offending in his Canadian sentencing “was the right course of action to secure justice for victims and families here,” according to [ITV News](https://www.itv.com/news/2026-05-29/canadian-poison-seller-linked-to-112-deaths-of-brits-wont-face-justice-in-uk). Law was originally charged with 14 counts of first-degree murder alongside 14 counts of aiding suicide. Crown prosecutors withdrew the murder charges after his guilty plea, telling the court a Court of Appeal ruling in a separate suicide case had made those convictions unattainable. The poison Law sold remains legal and unregulated as a controlled substance in Canada, though some U.S. states have restricted its sale. “Once you take it, there’s no stopping it,” Mitchell said. “It just robs the blood of oxygen, and you essentially suffocate.” ## Hearing paused until November A sentencing hearing before Ontario Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst closed its first phase on September 24 after prosecutors entered 74 victim impact statements into evidence over four days in Newmarket, Ontario, according to the [Globe and Mail](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-kenneth-law-sentencing-hearing-to-resume-in-november-as-victim-impact/). Legal arguments are scheduled to resume on November 27, with a ruling on Law’s sentence not expected until 2027, the newspaper reported. Those convicted of aiding suicide in Canada can face up to 14 years in prison per count. “When you lose a child to suicide, there is an enormous amount of guilt that is inevitable for a parent,” Mitchell said. “Even though you can’t bring your child back, you want to do as much as you can to make sure that others don’t have to suffer as we have as a family.” ## See also - [The Poison Seller](https://gem.cbc.ca/the-poison-seller) — gem.cbc.ca · Stream the CBC documentary examined in this article