Eagle-eyed staff at a Penrith chemist foiled a man as he toured pharmacies with fake prescriptions seeking medication.
Details of the diligence shown at J Cowper Ltd in King Street emerged as desperate Jake Godber appeared in court for an ultimately fruitless fraud spree which also took him to Carlisle, Workington and even Gateshead’s Metro Centre.
Prosecutor Andy Travis told how 23-year-old Godber had visited Cowper’s on November 4. He handed over a bogus prescription bearing someone else’s name and also that of a false doctor’s surgery in London.
“The staff checked the prescription, which they believed to be false,” said Mr Travis. Their inquiries showed the surgery was not known to the NHS. When searched by police, Godber was found to be in possession of two more prescriptions which were, said the prosecutor, ready to use.
By that stage Godber had made two copycat attempts in Carlisle the previous week and more followed in the city on November 10 twice and November 29
He even phoned ahead of an unsuccessful visit to a Workington pharmacy on January 19 this year to check on stock levels, having also been foiled in Gateshead on December 18.
During several interviews with police, he confessed to using a prescription template which had been provided by a friend as he sought to obtain opioids for his own use.
“He made the comment he was desperate for drugs and realised what he was doing was wrong,” said Mr Travis. “He never actually got his hands on any of the drugs by using the fake prescriptions.”
Godber, of Orton Road, Carlisle, admitted eight offences of fraud by false representation committed on seven different dates.
