Man jailed for selling slimming drugs over internet

David Green, 44, of Wickersley, Rotherham, admitted advertising and selling an unlicensed medicine without a licence at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday.

Green, who also pleaded guilty to possession of medicine with intent to place it on the market without the required licence, had been selling the pills online.

The court heard that the tablets contained ephedrine, a stimulant and appetite suppressant which can only be sold through regulated outlets like pharmacies.

Officers from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said they had become aware of Green's activities on internet auction sites and found he was selling the tablets via his own website.

When he was unable to produce licences, investigators seized several hundred bottles of capsules which contained ephedrine. He made more than 13,000 from selling the tablets called Thermoslimmer Capsules and Inch Aid Capsules.

MHRA Head of Operations, Danny Lee-Frost, said: "The products being sold by Mr Green have undergone no quality control and he continued selling these products even after he was made aware of the dangers of what he was doing.

"This is yet another example of the danger of buying any type of drug from an unregulated source. You simply don't know what you are taking, the dosage, the conditions it was made in or most importantly, the effect it might have on your health."

Under the Medicines Act 1968 he could have been sentenced to two years' imprisonment.