Fake Covid kits: Preacher handed suspended one-year jail term

Bishop Climate Wiseman has been sentenced to one year in jail, suspended for two years

A bishop who sold fake Covid protection kits to his church congregation in south London has been handed a one-year jail term, suspended for two years.

Bishop Climate Wiseman, of Kingdom Church, Camberwell, warned people they would "drop dead" if they did not buy the kits and was convicted of fraud.

At Inner London Crown Court, he was also ordered to do 160 hours of unpaid work and pay £60,072 in court costs.

A BBC London investigation exposed his wrongdoing and was used as evidence.

Bishop Climate Wiseman pictured arriving at Inner London Crown Court on Monday

The kits, which he started selling during the first lockdown in 2020, were sold for £91 and consisted of red yarn and bottles of oil.

Wiseman claimed anyone who purchased the kits would be "protected" from the virus and would have no need for social distancing.

The BBC's Guy Lynn spent a day giving evidence in court

Evidence against him during his trial included secret phone recordings and testimony from a BBC investigations team, who had received a confidential tip-off that the church was selling the kits as a cure for Covid.

The trial also heard from 10 witnesses from his congregation, including nurses, who believed they had been cured or prevented from getting Covid-19 after using the oil by steam inhalation or rubbing it on their skin.

Wiseman had denied fraud and two alternative counts under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.

He was found guilty by a jury in December of the more serious offence of fraud between 23 March 2020 and 24 March 2021.

'Dangerous profiteering'

Also known as Dr Climate Wiseman and Climate Irungu, he and his Pentecostal church were investigated in 2016 for offering an oil for sale that was said to cure cancer, but no prosecution was brought after the product was withdrawn.

Southwark Council condemned Wiseman's "despicable actions", "abuse of power" and accused him of "dangerous profiteering".

In a statement, a spokesperson for the authority said: "Wiseman has promised people false cures for many years now, saying his oils cure Covid, cancer, HIV and more, when they patently can't do anything of the sort.

"We are glad to see that this custodial sentence reflects the seriousness of Wiseman's crimes and hope that it gives pause to anyone who is considering peddling false cures."

How my undercover work helped convict a preacher

Guy Lynn, BBC London

I remember feeling my heart racing as I went up to give my oath. I knew that I would be asked lots of questions about secret recording which, contrary to what many think or assume, is a highly complex process at the BBC. Such an investigation requires very high levels of evidence to even begin and a very high level of public interest to justify pursuing the story.

Defence barrister Charles Burton seemed to suggest that this had been some kind of fishing "exercise", which had involved a level of deception by the BBC approaching the church- posing as migrant workers who had heard of the oil and were interested in it.

I explained the BBC never secretly carried out such an investigation without strong reasons for doing so and needed evidence in advance that can only be tested with undercover recording. I told him that any deception carried out had to be proportionate to the seriousness of what was being looked at, and kept to a bare minimum.

To do the secret recording at all, the topic needed to be firmly in the public interest - something I felt very strongly about in this case.

Read more from Guy here

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