{"id":80269,"date":"2017-03-31T11:24:34","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T11:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=bf49f1cbce56e9086fb1d88e0a83a6bf"},"modified":"2017-03-31T11:24:34","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T11:24:34","slug":"press-release-couple-sentenced-for-selling-dangerous-slimming-pills-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=80269","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Couple sentenced for selling dangerous slimming pills online"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

James Donegan and Melissa Donegan of Bootle, Merseyside, were both given 12 month suspended sentences and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.<\/p>\n

During the investigation officers from Border Force seized more than 23,000 unlicensed slimming pills sent from Hong Kong which had been declared as vitamins.<\/p>\n

The pills were found to contain sibutramine which was withdrawn from the market in 2010 due to the risk of heart attack and stroke.<\/p>\n

Following the seizure by Border Force MHRA investigators visited the Donegan\u2019s home where they seized more than 30,000 unlicensed slimming pills with a value of more than \u00a315,700.<\/p>\n

An analysis of their bank accounts found the pair had made more than \u00a3215,000 from the illegal sale of slimming pills.<\/p>\n

Alastair Jeffrey, MHRA Head of Enforcement, said:<\/p>\n

\n

Unlicensed medicines can be dangerous as they may contain impurities, incorrect ingredients, and there is no way of knowing if they are manufactured to acceptable standards of quality and safety.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

In this case they contained an ingredient that has been withdrawn due to the risk it posed to health. What was being sold here had the real potential to cause harm.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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People involved in selling medicines like these slimming pills are only interested in your money and have no concern for your health.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Be careful buying medicines online and always buy from websites registered with MHRA and displaying the distance selling logo.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Andy Ewing, Deputy Director Border Force Postal Command, said:<\/p>\n

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Border Force plays a key role in securing our borders against the importation of all illegal substances \u2013 including unlicensed health products like this.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Thanks to my officers, tens of thousands of pills which posed a potential serious health risk have been prevented from entering the UK.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

We will continue to work closely with experts at MHRA in order to ensure that those involved in this criminal trade are brought before the courts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Background<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. MHRA is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK. Our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgments to ensure that the benefits justify any risks. MHRA is a centre of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which also includes the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC)<\/a> and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD)<\/a>. The Agency is an executive agency of the Department of Health. www.mhra.gov.uk<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
  2. Check whether a website can sell medicines online by searching our registry<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
  3. Online retailers displaying the distance selling logo are registered with the MHRA to supply legitimate medicines.<\/li>\n
  4. www.gov.uk\/fakemeds<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Follow #FakeMeds<\/a> on Twitter<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n
    \n

    Media enquiries<\/h3>\n
    \n

    \nNews centre<\/span>
    \nMHRA
    \n
    \n151 Buckingham Palace Road
    \n
    \nVictoria<\/span>
    \nLondon<\/span>
    \nSW1W 9SZ<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

    \n

    \n Email<\/span>
    \n     newscentre@mhra.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

    \n During office hours:<\/span>
    \n 020 3080 7651 (08:30 – 17:00)\n <\/p>\n

    \n Out of office hours:<\/span>
    \n 07770 446 189 (17:00 – 08:30)\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

    Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm. For real-time updates including the latest press releases and news statements, see our Twitter channel at https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/mhrapress<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A husband and wife from Bootle have today been sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court for the illegal online sale of unlicensed slimming pills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}