Covid firm issued result for unused test - court

RT Diagnostics blamed an "IT glitch" for a falsely negative result, Bradford Crown Court was told

An allegedly bogus Covid testing firm said to have been co-founded by an ex-MP issued a customer a negative result for a test she never took, a jury has heard.

Former justice minister and Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik stands accused of fraudulent business and public nuisance, alongside four other defendants.

Appearing as a witness at Bradford Crown Court, Caroline Pycroft said she was "horrified" after receiving a call from RT Diagnostics, in which she claimed the company blamed an "IT glitch" for the negative result.

She also recounted how she received an "extraordinary phone call" from a man demanding she delete a Facebook post she made about the company, in exchange for a refund.

Giving evidence, Ms Pycroft confirmed she had paid £136 for three Covid testing kits online from RT Diagnostics, to be taken on separate days after she and her husband returned to the UK from a holiday abroad in June 2021.

She told the jury she never received a result for her day two test, despite having registered it on an online portal and sent the swab off.

Former justice minister Shahid Malik is one of five accused of fraudulent business linked to the firm

After receiving a negative result for her day five test, Ms Pycroft said she contacted the company to say she could not take her day eight test because no swab was included.

Although the jury was told the firm replied to say a new swab would be sent out, the witness said she then received an email on the evening of 21 June to say she had tested negative.

Her husband also received a negative result for his third test, despite being unable to send a swab off because there was no return envelope, the court heard.

Ms Pycroft said after contacting the company and posting on Facebook about the issue, she received a phone call from a woman called 'Lynn', who it was said blamed an "IT glitch" for the result.

'Public health risk'

Asked by prosecutor James Lake for her reaction to that, Ms Pycroft said: "I was horrified because I felt all of us during that time had done our best to contain a virus we were told was deadly.

"If there had been an IT glitch I didn't know why I hadn't been reached out to pro-actively. It was a public health risk in my opinion."

The court was told Ms Pycroft later received a separate phone call from a man in which she said she was told she would get a refund "if I took my post down".

She added: "He said it was a goodwill gesture and in return could I do the goodwill gesture of taking my post down. It was an extraordinary phone call."

The trial is taking place at Bradford Crown Court

The witness had earlier said she had concerns about the packaging of the test kits, which she described as "scruffy, for want of a better word".

She said: "This is subjective, but they were delivered in Jiffy bags and our names and addresses were handwritten in different handwriting. They didn't seem professionally sealed."

The other defendants, Dewsbury East councillor Paul Moore, 56, former Halifax councillor Faisal Shoukat, 37, Dr Alexander Zarneh, 70, and Lynn Connell, 64, all deny charges of fraudulent business and public nuisance.

Mr Shoukat and 57-year-old Mr Malik, who served as a Labour justice minister under Gordon Brown and who was MP for Dewsbury between 2005 and 2010, also deny money laundering.

The trial continues.

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