Hartlepool Boots pharmacist stole steroids with bogus orders

Andrew Brown, 34, acted out of vanity when he placed bogus orders for steroids and testesterone pills for himself at the Hartlepool Marina branch, Teesside Crown Court was told yesterday.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield said that Brown, who was using an online coach to boost his muscles, placed his own orders for drugs and then intercepted the deliveries in Hartlepool and also at Boots stores in Stokesley, Middlesbrough and Guisborough.

The store had CCTV footage of him stealing drugs and ampules and then later walking out with them hidden inside his jacket.

Mr Hadfield said that it was a serious breach of trust, and the drugs were worth £6,500

Brown's defence counsel Damian Sabino said that it was "a vanity thing", and that Brown's career was now gone, after he had spent four years at university and six years in training with Boots.

Brown, from Hilyard Close, Stokesley, was given a 10 months jail sentence suspended for 18 months, 150 hours unpaid work, and 50 days rehabilitation activities after he pleaded guilty to theft.

Judge Sean Morris told him that if he had been selling the steroids or supplying them to others he would have gone immediately to prison.