Dr Richard Freeman’s High Court appeal fails and he will now face a UK Anti-Doping investigation

Richard Freeman, the former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor struck off for ordering banned testosterone patches, will now face a UK Anti-Doping investigation after his High Court appeal failed.

In a devastating verdict for Freeman, his former employers and cycling in this country, a Judge found that there was ‘nothing wrong’ with a 2021 tribunal which saw the disgraced medic erased from the Medical Register and ruled that his ability to practise was impaired due to his conduct while working at the Manchester Velodrome, dubbed the Gold Medal Factory.

The tribunal, which sent shockwaves through the world of cycling, had found Freeman – key to the successes at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics – ordered the drug ‘knowing of believing’ it was intended for an athlete to improve their performance. UK Anti-Doping then quickly charged him with two alleged violations – Possession of Prohibited Substances and/or Prohibited Methods and Tampering or Attempted Tampering with any part of Doping Control.

Ex-British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman will now face a UK Anti-Doping investigation after his High Court appeal failed after he was struck off the medical register for ordering banned testosterone patches for an athlete

Freeman (centre left – pictured with his defence team outside court in 2019) is facing a minimum four-year ban and he could potentially be banned from working in sport for life

The medic, who also worked for Bolton Wanderers, was provisionally suspended from all sport, although UKAD’s case was paused while the appeal played out.

After the appeal was unceremoniously dismissed this morning, the probe will now restart, with Freeman facing a minimum four-year ban. He could potentially be stopped from working in sport for life.

At the long-running Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service case, which at times bordered on the absurd, the reputations of Team Sky (now Team Ineos) and British Cycling were dragged through the gutter, with serious questions raised over their glittering era of success. Those questions will now be asked once more, following the appeal’s failure.

Freeman had admitted ordering 30 sachets of testogel to the Velodrome headquarters in May 2011 and accepted that he lied in a bungled attempt to cover his tracks. His actions also included lying to UKAD.

However, Freeman had denied that he had ordered the substance from an Oldham-based supplier ‘knowing or believing’ it was to be given to an unnamed rider to improve their performance.

Freeman was key to the cycling successes of British cycling at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics

Freeman claimed he ordered Testogel sachets for coach Shane Sutton’s ‘erectile disfunction’, which Sutton (pictured) vehemently denied

Instead, he said it was ordered on behalf of ex-coach Shane Sutton for erectile dysfunction, claims which the Australian angrily denied in a volatile exchange.

That defence was dismantled by the General Medical Council, leading to a stunning verdict which has now been underscored. Freeman appealed but, in a 38-page ruling passed down at the High Court’s Manchester branch, Mr Justice Fordham found that there was ‘nothing within the Tribunal’s approach…which was “wrong”. He added: ‘still less any respect which would undermine as “wrong” the overall conclusion; nor rendering any finding or the outcome “unjust because of a serious procedural or other irregularity in the proceedings”.

Freeman was also ordered to pay £23,000 costs.

The medic’s representatives released a short statement following the reading. It said: ‘JMW Solicitors is disappointed by the judgment of the High Court rejecting Dr Richard Freeman’s appeal against the decision taken by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service that his name be removed from the medical register.’