CHINESE ‘OWNER’ OF UDNEY PARK PLAYING FIELDS SANCTIONED BY UK GOVERNMENT
The government has imposed sanctions on a Chinese businessman known as ‘Mr Wu’ who currently owns Udney Park Playing Fields in Teddington, making it more difficult than ever to restore the space for the local community, it has been revealed.
According to government documents his assets have been frozen, he is disqualified from being a director and he is banned from travelling.
The website entry states: “The Secretary of State considers that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that WU An Ming (“WU”) is an involved person within the meaning of the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 on the basis of the following grounds: (1) WU is associated with persons who are or have been involved in human rights abuses, namely CHEN Zhi and the Prince Group; (2) WU has provided financial services, or made available funds, economic resources, goods or technology to a person who is or has been involved in human rights abuses, namely CHEN Zhi. CHEN Zhi and the Prince Group are or have been involved in the operation of scam centres in Cambodia. The treatment of individuals in these scam centres amounts to a serious abuse of the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment, and of the right to be free from slavery, not to be held in servitude or required to perform forced or compulsory labour.”
The sanctions will have an immediate effect, further immobilising this scam network and its financial enablers, who have profited from the exploitation of vulnerable people.
A number of London properties will be frozen as a result of the sanctions. This is in addition to the substantial UK assets already frozen by previous action against the network, including a £100 million office block in the City of London, 2 multi-million-pound mansions, and a helicopter.
The campaigning group, the Udney Park Community Fields Foundation have taken a keen interest in the status of Mr Wu due to his ownership of the playing fields. He purchased the fields via a company registered in the British Virgin Islands called Leisure Focus.
A spokesperson for the group told Teddington Town today: “The company name of Leisure Focus was changed from Wealth Creation International in July 2022 immediately before the land was purchased. Since then, he has sought to land-bank these fields presumably for future development and insisted that he would not sell the land unless he was paid at least £3.5m – a ludicrous sum for playing fields.”
Mr Wu had indicated that he would be open to renting out space on these fields and created a company called Udney Park Management Ltd to do so. This company was struck off on 6th January 2026 and was dissolved on 13th January 2026. Mr Wu is listed as the one person with significant control in Udney Park Management Ltd. The Company House records state that his country of residence is England. Company House also state that Leisure Focus are the shareholders in this company.
Udney Park Community Fields Foundation had made an offer to purchase these fields, but this offer was withdrawn in November 2025 due to the controversy surrounding Mr Wu and his links to a criminal crime network, which threw in to doubt the legality of transferring funds to him.
In November 2025, the Foundation wrote to Teddington RFC to bring the matter to their attention as they were tenants for a portion of the site for use as floodlight rugby training. Consequently, they sought legal advice and suspended rental payments to Mr Wu, although they have kept using the fields and maintaining the site.
At the beginning of the year Mr Wu was not sanctioned in the UK. The Foundation wrote to the Crown Prosecution Service asking them to consider sanctioning Mr Wu.
In the government documents Mr Wu An Ming is named as Hu Xiaowei: a long-term associate of another man called Chen Zhi who has been unmasked as involved in the Prince Group’s financial network under 3 different aliases
The impact of all of this is that 12.5 acres of community playing fields in Teddington remain out of meaningful community use until the situation is resolved. It is not known if the fields are a frozen asset but clearly any attempt to purchase the site is now on hold.
There are clearly questions for various solicitors and estate agents as to how this land was allowed to be purchased in the first place by such an individual.
The Foundation are seeking meetings with other stakeholders, including local MP Munira Wilson and LBRUT to explore ways of unblocking the situation and achieving meaningful use of the site
.UK crackdown on vile scam centres steps up with sanctions on illicit crypto network – GOV.UK