Gillian Jones QC and Max Baines secure £1.4m confiscation order in medicines fraud

On 5 June 2020 HHJ Hehir, sitting at Southwark Crown Court, ordered David Noakes, the former UKIP politician, to pay around £1.4m in confiscation following his conviction in 2018 for the production and sale of a product called GcMAF. Prosecuted by Gillian Jones QC and Max Baines, Noakes was convicted, along with his wife and two scientists, of making the unlicensed drug in a secret laboratory in Cambridgeshire and selling it to doctors and patients around the world. GcMAF had no proven medical benefit and was sold as a wonder cure for a vast range of serious illnesses including: cancer, HIV, MS and autism. Noakes was sentenced to 15 months in custody for his leading role in the operation.