NEW TWIST IN SKY DOC DRUG CASE
Freeman ‘forced to order drugs’, QC will claim
THE credibility of former Team Sky head coach Shane Sutton will be questioned as part of Dr Richard Freeman’s defence over the delivery of banned testosterone that has rocked British cycling. On an extraordinary opening day of a medical tribunal, former team doctor Freeman admitted he ordered 30 sachets of Testogel in 2011 and then attempted to cover his tracks. But the doctor will deny he did so knowing it would be administered to an athlete. Sutton, who guided Sir Bradley Wiggins to glory at the following year’s Tour de France, will now be questioned. At the Manchester hearing, it also emerged that Freeman’s legal team will argue he was told to order the sachets against his wishes, and that former head of medicine Steve Peters and ex-head physio Phil Burt will be asked to appear. Freeman’s lawyer, Mary O’Rourke QC, also claimed she has received new evidence that aids her client’s cause.
LAWYERS will question the integrity and credibility of former Team Sky head coach Shane Sutton and raise allegations of bullying as part of Dr Richard Freeman’s defence over the delivery of banned testosterone to British Cycling headquarters.
Former team doctor Freeman admitted 18 of 22 offences, including ordering the banned substance and then attempting to cover his tracks, as a medical tribunal finally opened in Manchester.
However, he continues to deny that he asked for a delivery of 30 sachets of Testogel in 2011 so they could be given to an athlete to improve performance. And, in final arguments before the case belatedly started, Freeman’s defence lawyer Mary O’Rourke QC claimed new evidence had recently come to light ‘out of the blue’ which may aid her client’s case.
She disclosed that both former head of medicine Steve Peters and ex-head physio Phil Burt will now also be asked to appear, and have already provided statements that include their observations over the issue of bullying.
Previously it had been expected that only Sutton (right), who guided Sir Bradley Wiggins to victory in the Tour de France the year after the delivery, wou ld be questioned.
It is expected that O’Rourke will claim Freeman was forced to order the sachets against his wishes, and regarding Sutton, she said her team were ‘gathering information ... that questions his credibility’.O’Rourke also disclosed that the defence may make a legal application to a national news-paper concerning information she believes it holds. ‘If I make that application I will give details of time the document came into existence,’ she said. ‘I will give information of who is the author of the document and I will give evidence of what I understand are the contents.’ Earlier, a threeperson panel at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service MPTS upheld an application from prosecuting General Medical Council QC Simon Jackson to amend two paragraphs of the allegation against Freeman.
The amendment changes the wording, which now reads that Freeman obtained the Testogel ‘knowing or believing’ it was to be given to an athlete to enhance performance rather than that the doctor’s motive was to administer the gel to an athlete.
O’Rourke also raised concerns about the close links between the GMC and the MPTS, claiming emails between the two parties regarding witnesses that did not include the defence had made her client ‘very concerned’ and ‘anxious’. ‘We feel it is absolutely out of order for this correspondence to have gone on,’ she said. Freeman, who may be deemed unfit to practise, had previously claimed the Testogel, ordered from Oldham-based supplier Fit4Sport, was delivered in error but at a previous preliminary hearing O’Rourke revealed her client would admit he had told ‘a lot of lies’.
Yesterday, he formally admitted subsequently sending an email to a Fit4Sport employee asking for her to send a written confirmation which stated the order had been sent in error by the company, returned to them and would be destroyed. He also admitted he had misled a UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) investigation when he told them the Testogel had been returned, along with a series of record management offences.
O’Rourke also disclosed that her team had contacted MP Damian Collins, who chaired a DCMS inquiry into doping in sport in 2017 amid claims he received information that was not published.
At the end of a fiery session, Jackson — who accused his counterpart of ‘tactical skirmishing’ — stated: ‘Did Dr Freeman obtain the Testogel to prescribe it to Shane Sutton for an established diagnosed condition or did he obtain it for some other reason? The defence refuses to answer,’ something O’Rourke rejected.
Jackson is expected to give his opening address this morning.
It is expected that Sutton will fly in from abroad to give evidence and face cross- examination on Monday and Tuesday.