Sutton accused of lying as Freeman QC hits out

THE barrister representing Dr Richard Freeman attacked the evidence of Shane Sutton yesterday in a bid to get the disputed charges against her client thrown out. Mary O’Rourke QC claimed Sutton — the former Team Sky and British Cycling coach who is the key witness in the General Medical Council case against Freeman — had stormed out of the tribunal because the situation was ‘too hot to handle’. She also branded him a liar. Freeman has admitted 18 of the 22 charges against him, including ordering banned testosterone to the Manchester Velodrome headquarters of Team Sky and British Cycling in 2011 and masterminding a botched attempt at a cover-up. However, he denies he placed the order knowing or believing the 30 sachets of Testogel would be used to improve the performance of an athlete. Instead, he says he was bullied into placing the order by Sutton to treat his alleged erectile dysfunction — claims Sutton angrily denied in the evidence he gave before walking out. Making a half-time submission, with a view to getting the disputed charges dismissed, O’Rourke insisted a recording of Sutton’s evidence — delivered on November 12 — was replayed. She then attempted to dismantle his version of events. ‘This was a witness who came in with an agenda,’ she said. ‘He was raising his voice, thumping the table, body language all over the place.’ Calling Sutton’s actions ‘frankly inappropriate’, O’Rourke added: ‘Why is he being an obstructive witness if he has nothing to hide? Most witnesses do not make offensive remarks.’ She went on to describe Sutton as a witness who ‘knows he has told lies’, saying: ‘Even in the short period I got to question him, he was caught out with three lies. He left because it would be too hot to handle.’ Earlier, O’Rourke had threatened to walk out of the hearing herself over the panel’s adjudication last week that Sutton’s evidence should stand.