A TRIAL date has been set for a 59-year-old man who is accused of making fake Covid-19 test kits and attempting to sell them around the world.

A hearing was held at Portsmouth Crown Court for Frank Ludlow, of East Marden, West Sussex, who faces fraud charges and supplying an unauthorised medicinal product.

The defendant, who is in custody but was not present for the hearing, is set to face a five-day trial starting on August 17.

Ludlow was arrested at a Post Office near his home after 60 coronavirus “treatment kits” were seized by police in the US.

The kits, which were intercepted by Customs and Border Protection Agency officers in Los Angles, were labelled as “Anti-Pathogenic treatment” and had been sent from the UK, City of London Police said.

They allegedly contained chemicals which are “extremely harmful” when the user is instructed to wash and rinse their mouth with them, police added.

Ludlow was arrested by the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit after it was contacted by its US counterparts.

Police believe some of the kits could still be in circulation, and urged people not to use them.

Ludlow is charged with fraud, possession of articles for use in fraud, assembling, possessing, supplying and attempting to supply an unauthorised medicinal product, and two counts of acquiring criminal property.

No pleas were entered at the hearing, which was held remotely.

  • The coronavirus Sussex Crisis Fund has been set up to help those affected by the pandemic. The Argus’s charity and American Express have each donated £50,000 to kick-start the appeal. Grants will usually be for up to £5,000. More information is available at www.sussexgiving. org.uk/apply. To donate visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/sussexcrisisfund