UK government wins £122m pandemic case against Michelle Mone-linked firm over faulty PPE
UK government wins £122m pandemic case against Michelle Mone-linked firm over faulty PPE
Trial heard 25m surgical gowns supplied by PPE Medpro to protect NHS staff were unusable and could ‘seriously harm or kill patients’
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The government has won its legal claim against a company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone for the return of millions of pounds paid for personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care sued the company, PPE Medpro , in December 2022, arguing that it had not complied with PPE laws to ensure that 25m surgical gowns it provided under a June 2020 government contract were sterile.
The trial heard that the gowns, for which the DHSC paid £122m, were rejected after their first UK inspection in September 2020 and never used in the NHS . The gowns, manufactured in China, were labelled with a CE mark, denoting compliance with European standards, but no authorised quality assurance organisation had certified their safety and sterility.
Paul Stanley KC, representing the DHSC, argued that this meant the gowns “were invalidly CE marked … and did not comply with the law”. Stanley referred in his opening submission to a statement by a health official who had said of the gowns that “the potential impact on safety was such that they could seriously harm or kill patients and so could not be released for use”.
PPE Medpro, ultimately owned by Mone’s husband, the Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, defended the claim in court. The company’s barrister, Charles Samek KC, argued that the gowns were properly manufactured and sterilised in China, and that the DHSC agreed to the process before it awarded the contract.
“The secretary of state [for health] knew everything there was to know about my client’s offer, all cards were on the table face up, and they entered into this contract … with their eyes wide open,” Samek said in his opening.
