A MAN claiming to sell a cure for cancer has been ordered to pay more than £2,000.

Steve Cook operated a website, called Colloidal Silver UK, which claimed its properties could kill cancer cells.

One of the products on sale was ‘Ultimate Colloidal Silver’, a liquid containing silver which Cook made in his own home.

When the website was flagged with Essex Trading Standards, the organisation began an investigation, in November 2013.

Cook, 54, of East Road, in West Mersea, today admitted breaching the Cancer Act when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

Magistrates fined him £750 and ordered him to pay £1,500 in court costs.

Roger Walters, Essex County Council cabinet member for trading standards, said the public would be safer now Cook was brought to justice.

He said: “Trading Standards' advice to people who are considering whether to take any substance not prescribed for a medical purpose, either preventative or as a treatment, is to consult their doctor first.

“I hope the public feel safer knowing that [we] will take action where traders are trying to sell products which are neither medically proven nor safe.”

Cook has also updated the website, colloidalsilveruk.com, so it does not make any claim the silver can cure cancer.