Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
AIA

Accountant jailed in £4.7m medicine scandal

by
13th Apr 2011
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

A chartered accountant is facing eight years in jail after being found guilty of importing bogus drugs with a retail value of £4.7m.

Windsor-based Peter Gillespie imported the fake Chinese-made drugs and packaged them to make them look like genuine medicines for cancer, heart conditions and mental illness.

Between December 2006 and May 2007 Gillespie imported 72,000 packs of counterfeit medicines, equating to more than two million doses.

Gillespie ran a Luxembourg company which purchased the drugs from China for £1.4m and passed them on to pharmacies, hospitals and care homes. At least 100,000 doses ended up being given to patients.

Four men accused of being Gillespie’s accomplices were cleared of all charges earlier this week at Croydon Crown Court.

Prosecutor Andrew Marshall said: “This case represents the most serious breach of the medicine control regime that has happened in the EU.”

Croydon Crown Court judge Stephen Waller told Gillespie, “They were high-value drugs that were in big demand for serious illnesses.

“They were very good counterfeits, the packaging looked just like the real thing and you knew they would go through quickly and be consumed with little trace.”

The government is now under increasing pressure to close loopholes that allow dealers to breach the regulated system.
 

Tags:

Replies (1)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

David Winch
By David Winch
13th Apr 2011 16:43

Confiscation

I understand confiscation proceedings against Mr Gillespie under PoCA 2002 are now in hand.

David

Thanks (0)