WAITING for pharmacists to dispense his prescription a man jumped over the counter and helped himself to two boxes of subutex.

Garry Bourne of Wolsely Avenue, pleaded guilty to the charge of theft of the two £1.60-boxes of drugs when he came before magistrates sitting in Swindon on Wednesday.

The court heard from crown prosecutor Pauline Lambert that 38-year-old Bourne had gone into Lloyds Pharmacy in Cavendish Square on April 30. “He was waiting for his script when the pharmacist was called away,” she said.

“He climbed over the counter into the dispensing area. He grabbed two boxes of subutex which had seven tablets in each box. It is a blocker for addictive substances. He then climbed back over the counter and left the store.”

Checking the pharmacy’s CCTV footage the store staff then rang Bourne and asked him to return the drugs, but he denied he had stolen the tablets. He then went on to admit the theft, but told the pharmacist that he had sold the tablets for £5 per pack.

The theft came just five days after Bourne had received a ten week custodial sentence, which had been suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete a drug rehabilitation order, but a month later on May 26 he was back in court for failing to comply with the order.

Defending him, Emma Thacker told the magistrates: “The drug rehabilitation order wasn’t working for him because of the people that also attended there – they were almost egging each other on to go back onto drug use. But he hasn’t used any drugs in six weeks.

Chairman of the bench Simon Wolfensohn imposed a six month community order during which he must complete 10 rehabilitative activity days. He must also pay a victim surcharge of £85.