RAID AFTER UNQUALIFIED
A BRITISH mum who makes a cream she claims can help beat cancer is battling a French probe accusing her of having an “illegal pharmacy”.
Lesley Hutchings says she had her passport taken away and her bank accounts emptied after being held for four days over allegations of defrauding customers.
Lesley, 54, was quizzed by French authorities about the cream – which she makes in her barn. The product sells on Facebook for up to £40.
Police who raided her home in the remote Manche area of Normandy removed computers and paperwork before sealing up the outbuilding.
Officials then took away samples of her Mafactive cream for tests.
Lesley – a former accountant who has no formal medical qualifications – says two of the creams have been ruled “satisfactory”, while a third is still being analysed.
Controversial
Police also quizzed her over her association with David Noakes, who is facing trial over a controversial product called GCMAF – which his company promotes as the “body’s way of becoming cancer free”.
Noakes is due in court in the UK later this year on charges of money laundering and manufacturing a medicine without a licence.
When the Sunday People visited Lesley at her home, which she hopes to turn into a vegan B&B, she insisted her cream does not contain GCMAF, despite the similar name.
Lesley told us: “It’s just a name. What difference does it make? It could mean anything – multi-formula cream or whatever.”
And she accused the French authorities of victimising her because she once worked with Noakes.
Lesley said: “I ran a legitimate business with zero complaints from customers and positive feedback.
“I don’t tell people my cream cures cancer. I don’t make any health claims. It’s not illegal to make something amazing – and it’s not illegal for others to tell the world you’ve made something amazing. One Polish woman wrote that she used my cream for tumours that had turned all fungal and said that three weeks later they were gone.
“I don’t even understand why my creams work because science says they shouldn’t work.”
Lesley moved to France in 2011 after quitting her job with Noakes, which involved collating customer feedback on GCMAF.
She began making her own cream three years ago. Claiming its exact contents are “a trade secret”, she would say only that it contains frankincense and yeast. Her Facebook page promoting the product stated it may help the body “defend itself against pathogens and cancers”.
Facebook declined to comment on Lesley using the social networking site to promote her business.
She says her business came under scrutiny by French authorities after she posted customer feedback to a private page – including the claims of the woman who said the cream had got rid of skin tumours. Lesley’s