Woman says former MP’s Covid testing firm offered refund to remove negative post

A customer of a former Labour minister’s allegedly fraudulent Covid-19 testing firm told a court the company offered her a refund if she took down a Facebook post about them sending her a false negative result.

Shahid Malik is one of five people on trial over the “inadequate and non-compliant” firm RT Diagnostics, which prosecutors say made £6.67 million in three weeks, but did not meet UK standards.

Malik, 57, who became the MP for Dewsbury in 2005 and was a justice minister and communities minister before losing his seat in 2010, is accused of fraudulent trading, causing a public nuisance and money laundering.

Prosecutors say he was the “driving force” behind the company, with pharmacist Faisal Shoukat, 37, who is charged with the same three offences.

Lynn Connell, 64, Paul Moore, 56, and Alexander Zarneh, 70, are accused of fraudulent trading and causing a public nuisance.

Jurors have heard the site for RT Diagnostics, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was “shoddy and inadequate” and that the firm generated a suspiciously low number of positive results.

On Friday Bradford Crown Court heard evidence from Caroline Pycroft, who bought testing kits from RT Diagnostics in June 2021 after returning from a trip with her husband.

She told the court she went on the gov.uk list of Covid-19 test suppliers, believing it to be the “most reliable” source, and chose RT Diagnostics because they were the cheapest.

Mrs Pycroft and her husband each bought Day 2, Day 5 and Day 8 TTR test kits for £136 per person.

She told the court: “When I received the packages I had concerns. They were delivered in jiffy bags and had the names and addresses handwritten, in different handwriting.

“They didn’t seem to be professionally sealed, I would have expected a printed out label for example. It seemed like scruffy packaging.”

Mrs Pycroft said she and her husband provided a sample for the Day 2 tests and posted them back on June 13.

Over the next couple of days her husband received a negative result, but she did not, and found that her test had not registered on the company’s portal.

They both received negative results for their Day 5 tests, but when they opened their Day 8 kits they each had a piece of the equipment missing and could not do the tests, the court heard.

Mrs Pycroft said she and her husband then both received negative results from RT Diagnostics, even though neither of them had submitted a sample.

Jurors heard that after her calls and emails went unanswered, Mrs Pycroft found a Facebook group about the company and posted a comment about receiving a negative result without having submitted a test.

She received a call from a woman called Lynn from RT Diagnostics, who “asked what she wanted” and blamed the false negative result on an IT glitch.

Mrs Pycroft told the court: “I was horrified because I felt all of us during that time did our best to contain a virus that we were told was deadly.

“If there had been an IT glitch I didn’t know why I hadn’t been reached out to proactively, because it would have affected other people and it was a public health risk, in my view.”

Mrs Pycroft said she accepted the offer of a refund, and later that night received a call from a man who said he was from the accounts department at RT Diagnostics.

She told the court: “He said (the refund) was a goodwill gesture and in return I could do the goodwill gesture of taking my post down.

“I was very shocked because that’s never happened before to me. It was an extraordinary phone call.”

Mrs Pycroft started to record the call, which was played in court.

The man can be heard declining to give his name, before Lynn comes on the phone and Mrs Pycroft tells her: “I’ve recorded it actually because it was a shocking thing to say. I actually think it’s quite intimidating.”

The court heard Mrs Pycroft reported what had happened to the Department of Health and Social Care, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and Trading Standards.

The trial has previously heard that as the third national lockdown was ending in March 2021, the then government was looking to expand its test and trace system by increasing the number of laboratories offering PCR testing.

The defendants are accused of “taking advantage” of that process with the “cash cow” of RT Diagnostics.

The defendants all deny the charges and the trial continues.

Published: 31/10/2025 by Radio NewsHub