Woman to plead guilty over import and sale of diet drugs

A mother of two accused of supplying potentially dangerous slimming tablets by mail order and over the internet is to plead guilty, a court has heard.

Lydia McCarthy, from Alexandra Place, East Road, East Wall, Dublin 3, is facing 35 counts of breaking medicinal products regulations.

It is alleged she imported and advertised online slimming products which are subject to prescription control and contained a controversial drug called sibutramine, which has been withdrawn from markets across the world due to health risk fears.

She appeared before Judge John O’Neill at Dublin District Court after she had been summonsed by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB).

Her lawyer told Judge O’Neill yesterday there will be guilty pleas entered to some of the offences but time was needed to discuss which charges with the IMB’s solicitor Ronan O’Neill.

Judge O’Neill adjourned the case until April 23 for the woman to decide on the counts to which she is going to plead guilty; the remaining charges are to be struck out.

Aside from any other penalty, she will also have to discharge the IMB’s costs totalling €4,500 arising from analysis of different packages involved in the investigation. The court heard yesterday that she is a lone parent and it will take her some time to be able to pay.

In the charges, it is alleged she imported the medicine Reduce 15mg which contained the product sibutramine, on dates between August 2012 and April 2013.

She is also accused of keeping the same product for supply in Dublin on September 28, 2012.

In other charges, it is alleged she supplied a product called Reduce 15mg, on August 6, 2012, August 7, 2012, and September 6, 2012. It is also alleged that she supplied it by mail order from: October 2 to October 5, 2012; August 6 to August 12 in the same year, and on: August 7, 2012; September 6, 2012; October 2, 2012.

The woman is also accused of procuring the sale of Reduce 15mg on dates from May 29 to September 13, 2012, and procuring the sale of “EHP-rapid weight loss”, on August 9, 2012.

Between August 1 and September 28, 2012, it is claimed she advertised Reductal and Reduce 15mg on websites such as the Gumtree.ie and OnandGone.ie, while it is also alleged that over the same period of time she advertised EPH-rapid weight loss on websites including Dublinonlinemarket.ie.

It is alleged the ads were placed in a manner that did not clearly identify the products as prescription- only medicines.