Art dealer, 54, accused of harassing celebrity plastic surgeon known as ‘Boob God’ who she blames for botched nose job is facing £80,000 court bill for contacting his patients
- Dr Riccardo Frati sued former patient Karen Bowen-Carter, 54, for harassment
- Mrs Bowen-Carter now faces an £80,000 court bill for contacting his patients
An art dealer accused of harassing a celebrity plastic surgeon – known as the ‘Boob God’ – who she blames for botching her nose-job was today left facing a court bill of up to £80,000.
Dr Riccardo Frati is a top Harley Street surgeon who has operated on celebrities including Towie’s Gemma Collins and Big Brother’s Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace.
The medic has been lauded online by former patients as a ‘Boob God’ for his work, including giving model Aisleyne the ‘biggest’ boob implants allowed in the UK.
But he ended up in court, suing disgruntled former patient and art dealer Karen Bowen-Carter, 54, for harassment over a series of posts and messages online.
He accused her of ‘stirring up criticism’ of him online and she now faces a High Court bill of up to £80,000 after breaching a legally binding undertaking that she not contact his patients during the ongoing harassment case.
Dr Riccardo Frati (right) has treated many famous patients including Island’s Hayley Hughes (left)
Art-dealer Karen Bowen-Carter was accused of harassing Dr Frati due to a ‘botched nose job’
Finding her in contempt of court today, Mrs Justice Farbey said that, in contacting Dr Frati’s patients, she was sure Mrs Bowen-Carter ‘intended harm’ to the doctor.
She fined her £1,200 and ordered that she pay his lawyers’ bills, which are estimated at about £80,000, but will be assessed by the court at a later date.
In his claim, Dr Frati accuses Mrs Bowen-Carter of deliberately spreading lies online by claiming that he has ‘fraudulently’ given celebs cut-price treatments to get positive reviews.
As part of the claim, in 2021 she agreed to an undertaking not to contact him, his staff or patients.
But she was hauled back to court and accused of contempt after continuing to contact his patients online after she had given the undertaking.
During a previous hearing, his barrister David Sherborne said the medic had reluctantly taken action against Ms Bowen-Carter as a last resort, saying: ‘he has been driven to do so by her repeated breaches’.
However, Mrs Bowen-Carter denied being in contempt of court and said the legal promises she made might not even be binding because she was suffering with crippling anxiety at the time she signed.
She also claimed the undertakings were ‘ambiguous and unclear’ in barring her from contacting, intimidating or harassing Dr Frati’s patients, as the terms failed to make clear whether this included past as well as current patients.
Edward Lamb, for Ms Bowen-Carter, told the court his client had begun posting about Dr Frati following her own ‘unhappy’ experience when she had nose surgery.
Ms Bowen-Carter felt troubled by six cosmetic procedures carried out on her by Dr Frati in November 2020, for which he charged £25,000, said the barrister.
‘She was extremely unhappy with the standard of his surgery and his pre and postoperative care,’ he added.
She then published a series of online reviews ‘in order to try and ensure that other patients were made aware of her experience of Dr Frati’s work’, he added.
Mr Sherborne claimed Mrs Bowen-Carter’s aim in posting online was to ’cause as much damage as possible’ to Dr Frati’s business and ‘effectively to blackmail him into paying substantial sums of money’ following her procedures.
He highlighted one which stated: ‘The whole five-star rating is clearly fake as there is no way in the world this man can be called professional’.
The surgeon claimed the post suggested he offered ‘half-price nose job or breast implants’ to celebrities in return for an endorsement and portrayed him as ‘perpetrating a fraudulent scam’.
Mrs Bowen-Carter was found in contempt of court for contacting four of his patients
Dr Frati denies any allegations of giving cheap surgery for good reviews and, as part of his case in 2021, applied for an injunction against Mrs Bowen-Carter, which she settled by agreeing legal undertakings not to contact him, his staff or patients.
However over the subsequent year, she had ‘repeatedly contacted and harassed patients of the claimant,’ said Mr Sherborne.
‘It was hoped this would stop but this hasn’t happened and that has led to the application.’
He claimed the communications were made to ‘stir up criticism’ of the doctor.
Today, Mrs Justice Farbey found Mrs Bowen-Carter in contempt of court for contacting four of his patients.
‘You knew you were contacting the claimant’s patients or former patients,’ she said, addressing Mrs Bowen-Carter in sentencing.
‘I am sure you were reckless in doing so. You didn’t think in the slightest about what you were doing.
‘I am sure you intended harm to the claimant.’
Amongst the communications, she had referred to the ‘Frati Mafia,’ which was the sort of allegation which the undertaking was designed to prevent, she continued.
‘It is an aggravating factor that you have little insight into what you have done,’ she said.
‘You don’t accept responsibility for what you have done and show no genuine remorse.’
Handing her court bills which could reach £80,000, she said Mrs Bowen-Carter had been of good character, but had now been ‘humiliated’ in court.
‘Your humiliation is very public,’ she added.
‘As the unsuccessful party, you will pay the claimant’s costs of, and occasioned by, the contempt application.’
Dr Frati’s lawyers say their costs of the application were about £80,000, but the judge said the final bill will be assessed, with £20,000 to pay up front pending that assessment.
The judge said the harassment claim would be decided by the court at a later date.
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