Thompson and Carter v Hancock, Old Bailey, November 2026 —

Prosecuting Counsel: Your Honour, today we will examine decisions made by the Defendant while Minister for Health in 2020. These relate to the UK contact tracing app, ventilators, and personal protective equipment (PPE).

It is our contention that the Defendant — motivated by ideology and cronyism — knowingly opted out of the Google-Apple model and EU procurement schemes so that he could award contracts worth millions to companies such as Dyson, VMware and Zuhlke Engineering. Their attempts to reinvent the technological wheel ended in predictable failure and delays — and led to many avoidable deaths from Covid-19.

Drawing on R v Prentice, Adomako and Holloway [1994] QB 302, we will show how the Defendant breached his duty of care to the citizens of the UK, causing deaths in circumstances that amount to a criminal act or omission.

In sum: we argue that the Defendant is guilty of gross negligence manslaughter.