Worker at pharmacy stole from shop to pay debts

A DEBT-RIDDEN pharmacy worker stole thousands of pounds of products and the sold them all on eBay.

Donna Wood lifted hundreds of packets of Nicorette inhalers and diabetic blood strips from the branch of Cohens chemist where she had worked for nine years.

The trusted employee pocketed around £35,000 fromthescamwherebyshe sold the stolen pharmaceutical products to buyers on the internet auction site.

Wood, from Southouse, Edinburgh, was caught out after bosses installed covert CCTV cameras following an internal audit that flagged up financial discrepancies within the branch.

The 52-year-old admitted stealing boxes of inhalators and blood testing strips from the chemist branch, in Bonnyrigg Health Centre, in a bid to pay off missed mortgage and council tax payments.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday the blood testing strips are free on prescription to the public in Scotland but English NHS patients have to pay for them.

Fiscal depute Roseanne Chapman said: “An investigation was carried out by the pharmacy. They installed CCTV at the locus without the employees knowing. The accused was captured on CCTV placing a number of packets in a purple rucksack on May 14, 2015.

The following morning a check was conducted and a number of test strips had been taken and were not accounted for.”

Wood pleaded guilty to stealing pharmaceutical products from Cohens Pharmacy, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, between August 1, 2014 and June 3, 2015 during an appearance at the capital’s sheriff court yesterday.