Richard Freeman: Former British Cycling chief doctor permanently struck off

PA

Former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman has been permanently struck off the medical register pending any appeal.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service reached the decision on Friday after a hearing which spanned two years.

On Thursday, the MPTS panel had found that Freeman’s fitness to practise was “impaired by reason of misconduct” after being found guilty of buying a banned substance “knowing or believing” it would be used to dope a rider.

And on Friday, the tribunal decided the right course of action was for Freeman to be struck off, concluding that it was “necessary to erase the doctor’s name from the medical register”.

The tribunal has yet to decide whether to impose an immediate order to cover any period of appeal by Freeman, who had previously pledged to fight to clear his name.

It concluded: “The tribunal considered that Dr Freeman’s behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with continued registration.

“The tribunal has therefore determined that erasure is the only sufficient sanction which would protect patients, maintain public confidence in the profession and send a clear message to Dr Freeman, the profession and the public that his misconduct constituted behaviour unbefitting and incompatible with that of a registered doctor.”

Last week at the hearing Freeman had been found guilty of 21 of the 22 charges brought against him surrounding an order of testosterone to British Cycling back in 2011.

In reaching the decision last week against Freeman, who worked for British Cycling and Team Sky from 2009 to 2017, MPTS chair Neil Dalton had said: “The tribunal found that you, Dr Freeman, placed the order and obtained the Testogel [testosterone], knowing or believing it was to be administered to an athlete to improve their athlete performance. The motive was to conceal a conduct."

Last month, he was also charged by UK Anti-Doping with two violations of rules related to ordering a banned substance and tampering. Freeman is believed to have contested the charges and has requested a UKAD hearing.

Freeman had continually denied any knowledge that the drug was to be used to dope a rider, saying that it had been intended to treat former British Cycling and Team Sky coach Shane Sutton’s issue with erectile dysfunction, an allegation Sutton denied.

The hearing, which has lasted more than two years, has made for uncomfortable headlines for one of Britain’s most successful Olympic teams, as well as the dominant force of professional road cycling.

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