'Injector's Brazilian butt-lift ban gives closure'

Janet Taylor is wearing pearl earrings and a black T-shirt and sitting on a grey couch in her living room. She is looking straight at the camera.
Image caption,

Janet Taylor said a "weight had been lifted" following the news of the injunction

  • Published

The mother of a woman who nearly died from an infection following a liquid Brazilian butt-lift (BBL) has spoken of her relief after the self-styled "beauty consultant" was given a banning order.

A BBC investigation found Ricky Sawyer was performing risky BBL treatments, which involve injecting up a litre of dermal filler into clients' buttocks to make them look bigger.

In May, a judge granted an injunction against Mr Sawyer, banning him from carrying out or arranging cosmetic procedures in England and Wales until 27 May 2028.

Janet Taylor, the mother of Louise Moller, said she now had a sense of closure.

In a still image taken from covert filming, Ricky Sawyer is wearing green scrubs.  He is sitting on a chair in a rented office block in London.
Image caption,

A BBC investigation found Ricky Sawyer to be performing risky BBL treatments

"It was upsetting me every day that this person was still able to operate and nobody was stopping him," she said.

Ms Moller, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, needed life-saving emergency surgery after receiving a liquid BBL at his Essex clinic in October 2023.

She had developed sepsis and said she was warned by surgeons that she could die at any minute.

To stop the infection from spreading through her body, surgeons cut dead tissue out of an area covering almost her entire left buttock.

The BBC has since heard testimony from nearly 40 women who reported serious complications, including sepsis and necrosis, after undergoing procedures with Mr Sawyer.

The BBC's findings were submitted to Manchester Civil Justice Centre as part of a civil action brought by Trafford Council.

Representing the local authority, lawyer James Parry told the judge that the injuries were akin to that of "serious knife crime".

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The injunction prohibits Mr Sawyer from undertaking or facilitating any invasive cosmetic procedures, including but not limited to BBLs, anywhere in England and Wales.

It also bars him from possessing related surgical equipment or any antibiotics typically used in such treatments, unless prescribed for his own use.

Ms Taylor said: "To hear this news, I feel like a weight has been taken off me.

"It's a relief that he cannot operate now in England and Wales or if he does there will be consequences."

Mr Sawyer has been given 21 days to challenge the injunction.

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