SKY MEDIC BOMBSHELL
Freeman admits destroying laptop... and reveals grilling by Murdoch team
former Team Sky and British Cycling medic Dr richard freeman used a hammer or screwdriver to destroy a laptop which could have contained crucial evidence before handing it over to forensic experts, a tribunal heard yesterday.
on a bombshell day at the reconvened hearing into freeman’s conduct, he also sensationally disclosed he was grilled by rupert murdoch’s lawyer, as well as his son James, before he was due to give evidence to Parliament’s investigation into doping.
freeman revealed he was asked what he was going to say before breaking down in tears and cutting short the ‘pressurised’ and ‘intense’ meeting in Canary Wharf, London.
freeman, who resigned from British Cycling in September 2017, subsequently refused to appear in person before the Commons probe.
The doctor, who gave evidence for the first time in sessions lasting several hours in manchester, stands accused by the General medical Council (GmC) of ordering a batch of testosterone for delivery to British Cycling’s manchester headquarters in 2011
‘knowing or believing’ that it was intended for an athlete.
He denies that central charge, claiming he was bullied into ordering the substance by former Team Sky coach Shane Sutton in order to treat Sutton’s alleged erectile dysfunction. Previously, Sutton angrily denied the claims before storming out of the same hearing.
Freeman does, however, - admit 18 of the GMC’s other 22 charges against him including ordering the banned substance and attempting a cover-up.
Early in yesterday’s proceedings Freeman, n, head physician for British Cycling at the 2016 Rio Olympics, admitted he had misled his own legal team, his psychiatrist, his former employers and UK Anti-Doping officials.
But the extraordinary revelation about another British Cycling and Team Sky laptop quickly came to light. In 2017, at a parliamentary hearing, Nicole Sapstead, the chief executive of UK Anti-Doping, explained that Freeman was unable to support his claims about what was in the infamous Team Sky ‘Jiffybag’ because he said his work laptop had been stolen while holidaying in Greece.
Freeman claimed the mystery medical package delivered to him at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine race, and allegedly for Sir Bradley Wiggins, contained a legal decongestant but could not prove it because of the theft.
Both Wiggins and Team Sky have always strongly refuted the claims. BuBut it now appears that FreFreeman’s legal decongestant gdecongestant claim was also unable to be qualified because of an issue with another laptop obtained by the GMC. Taking the witness ststand, Freeman was askasked by Simon Jackson QC, ono behalf of the GMC, why he had taken a ‘ blunt object’ such as hammer or a screwdriver to another device — a silver Apple laptop — to destroy it in an ‘ amateurish way’ before handing it over ahead of this tribunal.
Jackson added: ‘ This was a laptop that had accessible medical records relating to riders you had treated during your time. I’m asking why you returned it with such damage.’
Freeman responded that he was going to take the laptop, which was examined by UKAD during their probe, to a local recycling centre but had ‘seen a programme about how people in India can access data on laptops’. He added: ‘I decided I cannot let that happen so I decided to destroy it... Then when asked for it, of course I handed it over.’
When asked if he had intentionally destroyed it to prevent others from gaining access to its contents, Freeman responded: ‘I have nothing to hide.’
When later quizzed over what lies he had told, Freeman made a stunning disclosure about a trip to London before he was set to face the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) inquiry into doping in sport in 2017.
‘I was on my own, living alone, isolated,’ he said. ‘I started drinking again, taking more sedative medication. I was on a slippery slope. I was due to give evidence to the DCMS select committee but I found it very daunting.
‘I went down to see James Murdoch (then Sky chairman) and Team Sky with (my solicitor) Mr Eastwood to be briefed at an imposing building at Canary Wharf. I was in a room with as many people as this. Mike Morgan was there — who is a big person
‘I started drinking, taking more sedative medication. I was on a slippery slope’ Dr RICHARD FREEMAN SPEAKING YESTERDAY
in sports law — and Rupert Murdoch’s lawyer was over from Australia. It was very tense. Pressurised.
‘They wanted to know how I would answer certain questions. I broke down in tears and couldn’t go on. I never went back. I wrote to Mr Collins (then chair of the DCMS Committee) to say I would answer questions in writing.’
Earlier, Freeman admitted lying to UKAD and his own doping team about returning the Testogel to the Oldham-based suppliers and telling other members of the British Cycling medical team it had been sent in error. He also asked the supplier to send a bogus email accepting responsibility for the order as part of a cover-up revealed by Sportsmail.
‘I am mortified that I have been dishonest,’ he said. ‘I have misled people on a number of facts... and it has snowballed.’ The hearing, at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, is due to conclude next month. Freeman’s crossexamination continues today.
BRITAIN’S Geraint Thomas has been forced to pull out of the Giro d’Italia because of a fractured hip. The Ineos Grenadiers rider, 34, crashed before the start of Monday’s third stage after a drinks bottle became lodged under his wheel. He finished the stage but lost more than 12 minutes — and a scan yesterday showed a fracture. ‘It’s so frustrating,’ said Thomas. ‘I’d put so much work into this race. I did everything I could. I feel I was in just as good, if not better, shape than when I won the Tour.’