Hong Kong government employee denies ordering surveillance of UK dissidents for China

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 t