Woman stole identity to gain fifteen prescriptions

A WOMAN used the identity of a close friend to get her hands on prescription drugs from a GP surgery, a court has heard.

Over a six-month period Janine Wilkinson Oram repeatedly rang a medical centre and pretended to be someone else in order to get painkillers and sleeping medication.

The scam only came to light when her husband noticed a pack of pills at their house in the name of another woman he happened to work with.

Swansea Crown Court heard the fraud took place in the summer of 2020 when health services were being severely stretched due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said on 15 occasions between April and September the defendant rang the medical surgery where her friend was registered and gave the friend’s name, address, and date of birth and after a phone consultation was able to get prescriptions. She then went to the pharmacy to collect the drugs, again giving her friend’s details.

The court heard the con was only discovered when 37-year-old Oram’s husband mentioned to a woman he worked with that he had seen a packet of her medication at his house. When the victim checked her prescription history with her Llandeilo GP she found 15 prescriptions had been issued in her name without her knowledge - some of them for the painkiller co-codamol to which she was actually allergic.

The woman challenged her friend about what had been happening and Oram apologised. The court heard that over a series of texts the defendant continued to apologise but then began asking the victim why she would not forgive her.

The defendant then said she no longer wanted to be a friend of the victim.

In a statement read to court, Hywel Dda Health Board said the frauds took place while staff and resources were “stretched to the limit” dealing with the Covid pandemic.

The woman whose identity the defendant had stolen said in her statement that her one-time friend had abused the trust placed in her and she said she had been forced to change jobs as it was too difficult to continue working alongside Oram’s husband.

Janine Wilkinson Oram, of Llandeilo, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of committing fraud by false representation at the Meddygfa Teilo surgery when she appeared in the dock for sentencing. She has no previous convictions.

Jon Tarrant, for Oram, described it as a “somewhat unusual” case in that had the defendant simply gone to GP herself she would in all likelihood have been prescribed the medication. He said Oram was suffering pain for injuries received in a car crash a number of years ago and was a “workaholic” holding down a good job while homeschooling children during the lockdown and also helping with her parents’ taxi business when needed.

Judge Paul Thomas QC said the defendant was not only guilty of a “mean” offence in using her friend’s identity but she must have known the health services were under massive pressures last year yet she took up doctors’ and pharmacists’ time getting medication on an “entirely spurious basis”.

Giving the defendant the required one-third discount for her guilty plea the judge sentenced her to a 12-month community order, fined her £200, and ordered her to complete a rehabilitation course. Oram must also pay the NHS £77.42 in compensation for the fraudulently-acquired tablets and £200 towards the cost of her prosecution.