Scientist struck off after posting 'only women have a cervix' online and referring to women as 'bra burners'
17 October 2022, 23:30 | Updated: 17 October 2022, 23:32
A biomedical scientist has been barred from his profession after a series of social media posts in which he said that "only women have a cervix", hit out at Black Lives Matter and referred to feminists as "bra burners".
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Malcolm Needs, who worked in blood transfusion for more than 40 years before retiring in 2016, was struck off after a tribunal found that his social media posts were "seriously offensive and discreditable".
In one of his Twitter posts, Mr Needs, 67, wrote: "Only women have a cervix. There, I said it, it’s not difficult. Women also have a right to women-only spaces.
"Speaking up in defence of women’s rights doesn’t mean we can’t respect how others wish to live their lives."
Another added: "I Swear my head will explode if another person classes me as a “cis woman”. I am NOT a cis woman but I AM a woman. I have a cervix which no man can claim to have and biologically that will never change. I am not just tired of this insanity but I’m fed up of being labelled."
Mr Needs was barred from practising as the chief medical examiner at the Institute of Biomedical Science in London - but refused to show up to his tribunal hearing at the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS).
He wrote in an email: "How many times do I have to tell you that I want NOTHING to do with your Kangaroo Court, and that, if I get one or email about this, I will take legal advice about harassment."
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The tribunal told Mr Needs that they were put onto his posts by a senior scientist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which called his activity "a deeply unpleasant tirade of racist, misogynistic, transphobic and nationalistic tweets."
The tribunal found that Mr Needs had posted "a stream of deplorable invective", exhibiting "prejudice against immigrants [and] feminist issues", as well as "inflaming gender discrimination" and ‘inciting racial hatred". His posts were found to be "highly unprofessional".
It wasn't just feminists and trans issues that Mr Needs took aim at, with posts also targeting immigrants and people from ethnic minorities.
He shared an image saying: "Putting illegal immigrants up in 5* hotels has saved the hotel industry. So let’s save the airline industry by flying the f***ers back home!!”.
He added: "And make them pay, like they paid the people smugglers to come over in the first place, and give our own taxpayers a rest”.
Mr Needs also asked "Is there anything that is not racist?" and claimed that "Multiculturalism destroys culture".
In September last year, citing an incident of knife crime, he posted: "It would appear that Black Lives Matter, but not those of other ethnicities. ANOTHER knife crime Cressida Dick and Sadiq Khan. What is your “score” for this year?”
Mr Needs said he voluntarily did not take part in the tribunal, as he was "happily retired".
A few days later he posted "Black Lives Matter Then" alongside a post about a theft. The day after, he wrote: "Gang members jailed for a “brutal" street stabbing murder of NHS worker… Yet another case of Black Lives Mattering."
