Brilliant Chang

Soon after, he moved to London, where he helped to look after his uncle's business interests which included a restaurant at 107 Regent Street and contracts with the British Admiralty.

According to Marek Kohn, Chang was introduced to the "dope scene" by Jamaican musician Edgar Manning who had arrived in London in 1916.

His easy manners, charisma and exotic appeal meant that he was able to build up a large female clientele that was close to a fan club.

[2][8][9] Freda Eileen Kempton, age 21, was a "dance instructress" (hostess) who died of an overdose of cocaine about midday on 6 March 1922 at her rooms at Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, London.

"[10] Heinberg gave evidence that on a separate occasion at the restaurant in Regent Street she had seen Chang give Kempton a small coloured bottle containing powder.

"[10] According to Heinberg, Kempton had said that she would kill herself by doing just that, adding "Wouldn't it be funny if I, an important witness in Audrey Harrison's case, were to commit suicide?"

Kempton had been a witness in the suicide due to insanity of Audrey Knowles-Harrison just over a month earlier in the same court in which her own inquest later was held.

[10] Heinberg was asked how she had learned of her friend's death and testified that her sister had received a call from a man named Basil Hennessy (or Hennessey) who was a customer at Brett's nightclub and formerly in the motor trade.

[10] The inquest resumed on 24 April and heard evidence from a Home Office analyst that cocaine had been found in the dead girl's organs.

[12] After deliberating, the jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst temporarily insane, at which, according to the News of the World, "Chang smiled broadly and quickly left the court.

[8] Although the police brought no charges against Chang in relation to Kempton's death, the publicity from the inquest was ultimately fatal to his business.

The combination of drug taking and the implication of inter-racial sex between white women and a Chinese man reflected popular worries about "white slavery" that were current at the time, fueled by press reporting and novels like Sax Rohmer's Fu-Manchu series which had been published since 1913 and featured a Chinese villain based in Limehouse.

Publicity from the distributors reported that they had been "snowed under" with interest and promised "If you're down in the mouth, dull, depressed and feel like nothing on earth, take a dose of COCAINE It will 'buck up' your box-office receipts.

[16] The police were convinced that Chang was running a large operation and several staff from his restaurant were found selling drugs and convicted.

[19] Chang's customers were far more conspicuous in Limehouse, however, than they had been in the West End and a police detective noted the stream of glamorous young ladies who visited him.

His defence weakened, however, after Payne testified that she sometimes stayed the night with Chang, enabling the prosecution to link the supply of drugs to inter-racial sexual activity.

[21] When Superintendent Francis Carlin of Scotland Yard died in 1930, The Times reported that he had been the officer ultimately responsible for the operation that jailed Chang, though his memoirs make no mention of the case.

There was a fall in the number of drug convictions in Britain in the years following Chang's jailing, but that may be attributable to increased police activity following national publicity about the issue.

It seems most likely that Chang's operation was limited to supplying young women he met in London and that he was not the international drug king that he was made out to be.

[13] Chang was deported from Britain in 1925, being taken straight from prison at Wormwood Scrubs by taxi to Fenchurch Street Station and then by train to the Royal Albert Dock from where he left by sea.

Andrew Koji portrayed a fictionalised version of Chang in the fifth series of the BBC crime drama Peaky Blinders.