Podiatrist Gary Denby has been struck off after a tribunal found he behaved 'aggressively' and 'disrespectfully' towards a 13-year-old patient during a foot appointment, including telling her to remove her face mask and bombarding her with unnecessary questions. The Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service ruled he created an 'obvious risk of harm' to the nervous child and her mother, ending his ability to practise after he ran his own clinic for more than two decades.

The incident occurred on 28 July 2021 at Denby's Foot Wise Podiatry clinic in Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire, during a consultation for the girl's verrucae. He insisted the patient remove her mask while not wearing one himself, despite Covid-19 guidance at the time, and separately gave her 'inappropriate' and 'erroneous' dietary advice linking her diet to her condition, later emailing her mother about the need for 'five-a-day' fruit and vegetables. The mother, who complained to the professional body two days later, said Denby ignored her daughter's feet in favour of berating her; Denby, a former Ukip councillor, denied wrongdoing and called the hearing a 'complete waste of my time'.