Manchester family locked up for illegal sale and supply of unlicensed medicines worth £1.5m
Three men have been sentenced to a total of three years at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to the illegal sale and supply online of prescription-only medicines and controlled Class B and Class C drugs with a street value of more than £1.5m following investigations by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Cleave Lewis (35) and brothers, Denis Sutherland (58) and David Sutherland (59), were found in possession of nearly 1.3m tablets of prescription-only drugs, including powerful sleeping pills, painkillers and anti-anxiety meds, when officers from the MHRA and Greater Manchester Police searched their residential homes and business premises in October 2017.
The three men pleaded guilty to illegally making these medicines available online on three different websites for the public to purchase without prescriptions. As well as the controlled medicines, over half a million (525,737) erectile dysfunction, slimming and herbal tablets were also found, with an estimated value of approximately £500k.
Following the MHRA’s investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) brought charges against the Sutherlands and Lewis, who pleaded guilty on 30 November 2021 at Manchester Crown Court.
Denis Sutherland was sentenced to three years in jail, while David Sutherland and Cleave Lewis were sentenced to a year in jail, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid community work each.
Andy Morling, MHRA Deputy Director of Criminal Enforcement, said:
Criminals trading in medicines illegally like this are not only breaking the law, but they also have no regard for your safety. These are powerful medicines that can lead to serious adverse health consequences if taken without appropriate medical supervision.
We work hard to prevent, detect and investigate illegal activity involving medicines and medical devices to protect the public and defeat this harmful trade.
Our Criminal Enforcement Unit will continue working to protect your health by disrupting this harmful trade and bringing dangerous offenders to justice.
Find out more
MHRA safety advice when buying medicines online
Be careful when buying medicines online.
Medicines and medical devices are not ordinary consumer goods and their sale and supply is tightly controlled. Websites operating outside the legal supply chain may seem tempting, for example, offering a prescription medicine without a prescription. Not only are these sites breaking the law - they are putting your health at risk.
Do not self-prescribe.
Self-diagnosis and self-medication can be very dangerous. If you have a concern about your health, visit your GP, get a correct diagnosis and if medicines are prescribed, obtain them from a legitimate source.
Visit the #FakeMeds website for tools and resources to help people purchase medication or medical devices safely online.
You can report any products you believe to be fake or unlicensed to our Yellow Card scheme.
Notes to editors
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To protect patients, prescription-only medicines must be prescribed by a doctor or other authorised health professional, and it has to be dispensed from a pharmacy or from another specifically licensed place. This is a legal requirement. It is illegal to advertise prescription-only medicines to the public. Controlled drugs are drugs named in the misuse of drugs legislation, the most common of which are on the controlled drugs list. The full lists can be found in both the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and schedules 1 to 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations (MDR) 2001.
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The full sentences were as follows:
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Denis Sutherland: all periods of imprisonment to be served concurrently (count of money laundering: 3 years imprisonment; count of supplying Class B medicines: 3 years imprisonment: count of supplying Class C medicines: 3 years imprisonment; count of selling prescription medicines: 12 months imprisonment).
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David Sutherland and Cleave Lewis: suspended for 24 months with 200 hours of community service (count of money laundering: 12 months imprisonment; count of supplying Class B medicines: 12 months imprisonment; count of supplying Class C medicines: 12 months imprisonment; count of selling prescription medicines: 8 months imprisonment).
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At the time of the arrests, Denis Sutherland was of Glendon Crescent, Ashton-under-Lyne, David Sutherland was of Church Street, Ainsworth, and Cleave Lewis was of Corporation Street, Manchester.
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The Class C medicines seized were unlicensed forms of Zopiclone, Tramadol, Clonazepam, Zolpidem, Diazepam, Lorazepam and Etizolam, which are sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medications. The Class B medicines seized were Codeine Sulphate, a painkiller. The prescription-only medicine, Carisprodol, a muscle relaxant, was also seized alongside erectile dysfunction and slimming tablets.
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks.
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The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.
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For media enquiries, please contact the newscentre@mhra.gov.uk.
Last updated 11 December 2023 + show all updates
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Additional details were added as Notes to Editor.
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First published.