A 43 year old woman who claimed she had cure for Alzheimer’s and cancer has been found guilty of making false claims.

Genevieve Flight sold a 'brain tonic' online, claiming it could 'reverse Alzheimer's' and treat cancer, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Flight failed to attend her trial on trading standards false description charges at Gloucester Crown Court this week and is believed to be in Nigeria.

The trial began in her absence on Thursday and ended yesterday (Friday) with a jury taking just 31 minutes to convict her of all charges against her.

On receiving their verdicts the judge, Recorder James Waddington QC, issued a warrant for her arrest and said she would be sentenced if and when she is found and brought to court.

He told the jurors she had not cooperated with the judicial system since pleading not guilty to the charges.

Flight, formerly of Valley Gardens, Quedgeley, Gloucester, who is listed as a director of the Gloucester-registered Shambhallah Healing Centre, had denied 12 charges of making misleading written representations on social media, and her centre's website, that 'Brain Tonic' is a holistic cure for diseases which are medically regarded as incurable.

Recorder Waddington told the jury at Gloucester Crown Court he was satisfied Flight had been informed of the trial after Gloucestershire Trading Standards sent her the prosecution documents.

He said: "She has voluntarily absented herself from this trial."

Gloucestershire Trading Standards officer Sarah Watson told the court that the investigation into Flight's actions began after a complaint was made by a cancer survivor who was perturbed at the claims made by Shambhallah Healing Centre on various social media sites.

Prosecutor Rupert Russell said: “In these adverts on Facebook, Twitter and the centre’s own website, Flight claimed to be able to cure a lot of illnesses with no known cure with her herbal remedy.

“Her claims are unfounded scientifically as there are no known cures for Alzheimer’s and Huntington disease."

Ms Watson added: ““There was no pricing for her Brain Tonic that claimed to reverse brain disorders as well as treating autism and the effects of strokes and dementia.”

Dr Hugh Rickards, a consultant in neuropsychiatry and chairman of the executive committee of the Huntington’s Association, told the jury: “At the moment there is no treatment that can modify the disease. There is no known cure.

“The disease affects just about everything the brain does.

“I had not heard about Shambhallah Healing Centre until I was contacted by trading standards. I have seen the advert and I don’t think there is such a thing as a brain tonic, as described here.

“Somebody might claim it, but there is no scientific evidence to this effect of curing all diseases.

“I have looked at the brain tonic’s ingredients and I have not seen any scientific evidence of any of them having any benefit to Huntington disease sufferers.

“The claims are clearly false and they worry me as hope is a very precious commodity among the Huntington community and to give people hope in the absence of proper evidence is a real problem.”

A transcript of Flight’s interview with Gloucestershire Trading Standards officers was read out in court. In it she said she had originally trained as a registered nurse.

She stated: “The products used in the Brain Tonic are all natural ingredients that people use every day and therefore do not need any special authorisation.

“The most important thing to us is to help people.

"We help them in different ways. Each case is different.

“Even if two people are suffering from cancer, the treatment will be different.

“If you (the council/trading standards) bring me someone who needs late stage prostate cancer treatment, we will assess them and let them know what we can charge them to cure or reverse the cancer. Whatever we do is guaranteed.

“If somebody goes into hospital their body is bombarded with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, radiation and everything they give to you kills the internal system. What we do is work with the body."

“We don’t have any misleading descriptions on our website. Medical experts have no idea how this all works. It’s not their field.

She added that the centre had 'helped so many people over the years' and rejected the claim that there were any misleading descriptions on the centre's website.

"Medical experts have no idea how this all works," she said.

"We make the lives of our patients so much better."

The trial continues.