Michelle Mone-linked firm ordered to repay £122m over Covid contract breach

The UK government in recent legal victory, is set to receive £122m plus additional costs and interests from Michelle Mone over contract breach during Covid pandemic as ruled by High Court judge.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) filed a lawsuit against PPE Medpro company in December 2022, accused of sending faulty and compromised 25m surgical gowns to NHS staff and neglecting PPE laws.

During the trial it was discussed that the UK government disapproved these gowns, for which DHSC paid £122m, during inspection in September 2020 and never used by the NHS.

Although these China-made gowns were labelled with a CE mark, they were bereft of authorised quality assurance, demonstrating their sterility and safety.

According to Paul Stanley KC who represented the DHSC, argued that “this meant the gowns were invalidly CE marked … and did not comply with the law.”

Following the ruling, Doug Barrowman, the husband of Michelle Mone, issued a statement, ““Today, a travesty of justice took place following the judgment of Lady Justice Cockerill.”

She gave the DHSC an establishment win despite the mountain of evidence in court against such a judgment. Her judgment bears little resemblance to what actually took place during the month-long trial, where PPE Medpro convincingly demonstrated that its gowns were sterile,” the owner of PPE Medpro said.

“This judgment is a whitewash of the facts and shows that justice was being seen to be done, where the outcome was always certain for the DHSC and the Government,” he added.

PPE Medpro received two contracts total worth of £203m, which became highly controversial deals to emerge from the “VIP lane” managed by Boris Johnson’s government.