E-mail dealer jailed for selling fake Viagra and other sex drugs

David Hayler was caught after the genuine drug manufacturers employed undercover investigators to look into his activities, and it was found he had been importing unlicensed and counterfeit medical products from China and India, making more than 65,000 before his arrest.

Deanna Heer, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday the unlicensed form of Viagra was known as Kamagra.

In June 2006 Hayler had register the website name kamagradave.co.uk advertising products and giving potential customers his contact details.

By December that year a notice had been put on the website saying he had closed it because he had discovered what he was doing was illegal but he continued to deal with customers by e-mail.

Hayler provided a list of 14 separate products which he said he could supply including 11 for erectile disfunction such as Viagra and Cialis, and one for Lovegra, a female equivalent.

On May 19, 2008, Hayler's then home in Shire Oak Road, Headingley, Leeds, was searched and 1,250 blister packs each containing four counterfeit tablets was found.

His laptop was also examined and on it an e-mail was found sent to customers about the same time the notice was put on the website, explaining he had done that only as a precaution and would still be supplying them.

When he was interviewed he accepted he had no qualifications or licences that allowed him to sell the drugs. He said he had supplied sexual health drugs from March 2006 for six to nine months but then stopped after receiving threats from other suppliers.

He said he knew it was illegal to trade them but had financial problems. He knew his contact in China only as "Jack Monkey" to whom he would send money through Western Union transfer.

Kate Batty, for Hayler, said he was a bright young man who completed a business and marketing degree at Leeds University in 2007. He had tried the drugs for recreational purposes and tested batches on arrival.

Hayler, 26, of Ahlux Court, Millwright Street, Leeds, admitted eight offences of unauthorised use of a trademark, and three of possessing, supplying or importing medical products.

Jailing him Judge Rodney Grant said not only had he risked the reputation of reputable companies but had exposed individuals to danger from substances whose content was not known.