A quack who claimed to be able to heal cancer patients over Skype after he saw the soul of dead woman fly out of her body is facing a jail term.
Jerry Sargeant, 39, said he discovered his abilities with ‘Star Magic’ after surviving a car crash with his family in Romania.
The woman he was travelling with was killed and Sargeant said he saw her spirit ascending to the heavens.
Sargeant did not attend his trial earlier this year and was convicted in his absence of four charges under the Cancer Act, 1939. The maximum sentence for the offence is three months in jail.
Jerry Sargeant, 39, was convicted in his absence of four charges under the Cancer Act, 1939
Sargeant titled himself ‘The Facilitator’ and claims to be able to ‘edit your karmic blueprint’ on his website Star Magic Healing.
Star Magic Healing Limited, of which he is the sole director, was found guilty of two charges.
An arrest warrant was issued after he failed to attend his trial in March and he faces sentence at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today.
Kirsty Panton, prosecuting, said Sargeant was charged after Trading Standards expressed concerned over the trading activities of his website.
Officers began investigating in June last year and found the site was ‘purporting to offer treatment for cancer.’
Ms Panton said one advert, entitled ‘Energy Healing For Cancer Treatment’, said readers had arrived at the place ‘where the best cancer treatment can be found.’
It boasted of a ‘therapeutic method developed uniquely by [Sargeant]’ which had been ‘proven’ to be an effective treatment for cancer.
Another advert, entitled ‘Energy Healing & Western Medicine’, talked about finding the ‘root cause to help individuals,’ which meant they did not need chemotherapy.
It also claimed that Sargeant could ‘heal you with my hands’.
Sargeant, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, was charged after Trading Standards expressed concerned over the trading activities of his website
Officers interviewed Sargeant on 23 November, when he told police that he had discovered his abilities after the crash in Romania.
Ms Panton told the court: ‘He said it was following a car accident that he started as a coach.
‘The car accident took place abroad, he said he looked round and could see his wife and children with their mouths full of glass.
‘He approaches the dead body, sees the dead soul and realises he has some magic powers of some sort.’
Sargeant told officers that he placed his hands over his wife’s head and ‘removed a migraine’.
Referring the testimonials of people who claimed they were ‘cured’, Sargeant told police: ‘I created them with people who had good experiences.’
Sargeant told police that he was not aware he had committed an offence under the Cancer Act, saying: ‘I didn’t realise that I couldn’t put these adverts on there.’
Ms Panton said when officers asked him when he sees customers, he replied: ‘I don’t need to see them, I do it over Skype.’
When asked how he gained his ‘magic powers’, Sargeant told police: ‘I’m self-taught, I just know these things.’
Officers interviewed Sargeant on 23 November, when he told police that he had discovered his abilities after a crash in Romania
Sargeant told police healing could take anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour because ‘you can’t put a time on magic.’
Ms Panton said the shortest healing session costs £90 for 15 minutes and Sargeant told police healing could take anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour because ‘you can’t put a time on magic.’
She added it was impossible to verify if the testimonials shown on the site were genuine.
The adverts and single YouTube video which constitute the charges have since been taken down and the maximumlife.tv domain now redirects to the Star Magic Healing site.
Sargeant’s website claims he first ‘pulled a migraine from his wife’s head but didn’t think too much of it,’ before allegedly healing a friend in intensive care in the UK while he was in New Zealand.
Sargeant claims that the woman, who was told she may not walk again, walked out of hospital in 12 weeks after he ‘mentally put her body back together again’.
He also claims to have been flown to Alpha Centauri, the closest star to our solar system, while meditating inside a pyramid in his friend’s garden, before being returned there by spaceship seconds later.
His website states: ‘After a series of life changing events, including a life threatening car crash, a trip in a space-ship and months journeying through Ancient Mystery Schools, Jerry Sargeant discovered Star Magic.’
A three-month ‘Energy Healing Journey Together’ package, which claims to be able to ‘dissolve an illness or disease, enhance your business performance [or] take your energy and vitality to the next level,’ costs £1,999.
Sargeant, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, and Star Magic Healing Limited are due to be sentenced today.