Jailed pharmacist struck off for stealing £25,000 worth of her employer’s pills to trade for cocaine

A PHARMACIST who stole £25,000 worth of prescription medication for a drug dealer in return for cocaine has been struck off the professional register.

The sanction was imposed on Michelle McPeake (33) for supplying more than 32,000 pills taken from her employer on the Antrim Road in north Belfast.

McPeake, who is from the west of the city, is currently serving a prison sentence imposed after she admitted the offences.

A Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland disciplinary committee has now ruled that the Queen’s University graduate is no longer fit to practise.

Following a hearing in Belfast, the panel’s chairman, solicitor Conor Heaney, described her misconduct as “deplorable”.

In a newly-published judgment, he said: “The registrant acted in a reprehensible manner.

“She fundamentally subverted the role of the professional pharmacist.”

McPeake, who had an address in Dunmurry when she appeared in court in July, was arrested outside a north Belfast chemist in March 2016 as part of a police investigation.

Over an 11-month period, she stole a total of 32,358 tablets worth approximately £25,000 from her employer, according to an agreed statement of facts.

The thefts involved quantities of pregabalin, dihydrocodeine, diazepam and tramadol.

She gave the medication to a man, who was able to supply it on to the general public.

In return, McPeake accepted obtaining and consuming cocaine throughout this period while employed as a registered pharmacist. Earlier this year, she pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including theft, possessing and supplying controlled drugs and having a medicinal product with intent to supply.

She was handed a two-year sentence at Belfast Crown Court, half of which will be served behind bars with the rest on licence.

The society’s disciplinary committee found that she had breached the trust placed in her by her employer and the profession, falling far below the standards to be expected of a registered pharmacist.

Mr Heaney said: “It was a very serious matter indeed for a registered pharmacist, charged with upholding the law and safeguarding patients in her care, to obtain and consume an illicit substance.”

With a suspension order deemed inappropriate and inadequate for protecting the public, an order was made to strike McPeake off the register.

“To impose any lesser sanction would undermine trust and confidence in the profession of pharmacy and the society in its regulatory function,” the panel chairman added.