A PARTINGTON MAN who sold Triamazon, an unlicensed ‘cure for cancer’, over the internet has been given a suspended sentence.

Andrew Harris, 50, from Hardwick Road, told Messenger that he is not a conman and had just wanted to tell people about the drug that he believes saved his life.

The father-of-five claims that he is in remission from non-Hodgkin Lymphoma after taking Triamazon and said it is a ‘miracle cure’ that he believes can help other cancer sufferers.

Mr Harris imported Triamazon, an Amazon jungle plant remedy, and sold it to cancer sufferers online for £250 per course of 100 pills.

But it is illegal to import and sell medical products without a licence and Mr Harris was charged with two counts of importing a medical product without a licence, one count of selling a medical product called triamazon and one count of possession of a medical product called triamazon intended for use on the market.

He dramatically changed his plea to guilty part way through his trial and on Tuesday at at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, on each of the four charges to run concurrently .

Judge Adrian Smith told Mr Harris that it was not a deception case, but the seriousness of the offence was the fact that the drug had never been tested on human beings or tested for use on UK markets and had posible harmful side-effects including links to Parkinson’s Disease symptoms.

He said: “I accept that while you undoubtedly would have made some profit, your motive was to provide fellow cancer sufferers with an alternative treatment.

“An aggravating factor is that the people that would be keen to spend their money on something like this are either terminally, or fearful of being terminally ill, vulnerable people whose false hopes were raised by you.”

Mr Harris, who relies on benefits, was arrested in 2008 after a joint raid on his home by police and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

After sentencing, he told Messenger that he felt he had cleared his name.

Mr Harris said he blames the government, MHRA and drug companies for preventing cancer sufferers from accessing Triamazon.

He said: “Because legally Triamazon can only be sold as a food supplement, with no health claims attached, they are denying people the knowledge of what this drug can do.”