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Antrim pharmacist Aidan Graham has pleaded guilty to stealing diazepam from the Medicare Pharmacy Group over a three-year period.

On Thursday May 29 Mr Graham entered guilty pleas to two charges concerning the possession and theft of the class C drug between January 1, 2021 and March 21, 2024.

Defence counsel Michael Forde told Ballymena Magistrates Court that Mr Graham has “found other employment” since his offences came to light, and that he has been suspended by the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland since May 2024 with a disciplinary hearing expected in the near future. 

On May 2 this year the PSNI reviewed his 18-month interim suspension order and concluded that it should “continue in the same terms, without modification or variation, for the remainder of the order”. 

Judge Conor Heaney granted a request to adjourn sentencing until after the probation board has compiled a pre-sentence report, with the pharmacist’s sentence to be handed down in July. 

Related: Diazepam black market pair struck off in back-to-back hearings

‘Blatant abuse of position’: Diazepam theft pharmacist gets community service