Fake Viagra manufacturer jailed

A BOGUS doctor who ran Britain’s biggest counterfeit Viagra factory was jailed for five-and-a-half years yesterday.

Allen Valentine’s “sophisticated” international operation, which also churned out steroids and cartons of potentially dangerous anti-anxiety pills, risked the health of the public and is believed to have made him millions.

London’s Harrow Crown Court heard the two-year plus enterprise, based in Wembley and backed by a “satellite” office and warehouse complex in Watford, left police in no doubt what they were dealing with.

Apart from being the largest operation of its kind so far found in Britain, they believed they had “smashed one of the largest illegal drug and pharmaceutical production operations in Europe” with a potential daily output of 500,000 tablets. Steven Perian, prosecuting, said the evidence also revealed significant “connections” with India - where much of his equipment and base chemicals were bought - and the Far East.

Valentine, 44, of Kynaston Wood, Harrow, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs between January 1, 2001, and April 21 this year, as well as two similar charges involving contraventions of the Trade Marks and Medicines Acts.