Hormone thief jailed five years

Naheem Malik, 26, was employed as an assistant dispenser by Lloyds Pharmacy in Leeds Road, Bradford, but over a nine-month period he used his inside knowledge and access to computer systems to place fraudulent orders for the valuable drug Somatropin.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday there was evidence Malik placed orders totalling more than 1m, but his employers only lost money on the hormone actually delivered.

Malik, of Moorside Lane, Laisterdyke, Bradford, had denied stealing the drug between September 2007 and May 2008 and fraud but was convicted of both after a four-day trial last month.

It emerged yesterday that he was already on a suspended jail term for perverting the course of justice.

Judge John Potter jailed him for five years for the theft and fraud offences and added a further four months after revoking the suspended sentence.

Lloyds found he used other people's computers, deleted invoices to cover his tracks and sometimes signed for deliveries using false details.

Judge Potter told Malik: "You lied and lied again. You are an inveterate liar. You lied in the face of overwhelming evidence."