GcMaf jailing 'doesn't answer all the questions'

Wednesday 28 November 2018

With the man behind GcMAF being jailed for 15 months, those people who took the product, and the families of some who have since passed away, say they have still got many unanswered questions.

David Noakes was sentenced by Southwark Crown Court in the UK yesterday with a 12 month prison sentence for the 'manufacture and sale' of products containing GcMAF, with a further three month prison sentence for money laundering.

Noakes had been a Guernsey resident when his firm Immuno Biotech made a name for itself through selling the product which he said could 'cure' conditions including cancer, HIV and autism.

He admitted in court, during his sentencing hearing, that he no longer believed it was a 'cure'.

Sentencing him yesterday, Judge Nicholas Lorraine-Smith said it wasn't GcMAF on trial, and that Noakes had showed a "disregard for the regulatory regime" and that he had sold it to "extremely vulnerable people".

Pictured: Southwark Crown Court. 

It's estimated that tens of thousands of people worldwide had taken the product, including a number in Guernsey.

Roy Veron had been taking GcMAF until the import and distribution of it in Guernsey was banned by the then Health and Social Services Department. 

While the current Health and Social Services Committee said Noakes' prison sentence "highlights the important and difficult role HSC has in protecting the public which in this case involved it banning the importation of GcMaf," Mr Veron's brother Tony said that David Noakes actually had "no option but to plead guilty in the first instance" and that his prison sentence reflects that.

"However, it is disappointing that our own HSSD allowed him to be hung out to dry when they are culpable of ignoring his appeals to work openly with them before publicly assisting him by providing a distribution network for the personal treatment of individuals wishing to take GcMaf locally," Mr Veron said, referring to the situation prior to the import and distribution ban being brought in during February, 2015. 

Mr Veron said he has a number of concerns over why his brother was initially allowed to take the GcMAF products which were later banned. 

"Why wasn’t this brought before the court as the HSSD have since accused him of providing a high risk potentially contaminated product, which they used to ban the distribution they previously sanctioned without checking exactly what GcMaf was or even how it was made before allowing our public to collect orders legally via the Border Agency. No contamination has ever been proven despite the sensational reporting that surrounded the topic and the families such as my own that have since lost loved ones do not have answers from HSSD whatsoever.

"I would like to know if my Brother Roy was subjected to a contaminated product issued to him with permission of HSSD or did he die because GcMaf was removed from his treatment protocol?"

Pictured: Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital. 

The Committee for Health and Social Care issued the below statement following the jailing of David Noakes. 

"Today’s conviction highlights the important and difficult role HSC has in protecting the public which in this case involved it banning the importation of GcMaf. Officers from HSC, supported by colleagues in Law Enforcement, worked in collaboration with the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency during its investigation. In doing so, and combined with the decision to ban the importation of this unlicensed and untested product, both staff and politicians were subjected to abuse and accusations the likes of which we have never seen before and sincerely hope to never see again.

"Politicians, past and present together with officers were publicly accused of being corrupt and killing people despite carrying out their very separate roles with the overarching aim to protect the community, and in particular islanders who were being taken advantage of when they were at their most vulnerable. That remains our focus today. Doing what is right is not always popular, our Committee and staff understand that, but these convictions confirm HSC was right to take action to protect the public from those who would potentially put them in danger in order to make huge sums of money."

Pictured: David Noakes.