A charity worker, body builder and personal trainer who bought “a lifetime supply” of 3,000 Viagra tablets valued at up to £15,000 after he separated from his wife has been sentenced.
areth McGlinchey admitted 20 charges of possessing and possessing with intent supply a series of drugs, most of them steroids.
McGlinchey (43), from Summer Meadows in Londonderry, was caught when the manager at the city’s Royal Mail depot became suspicious of a package posted to the defendant on August 17, 2016.
The manager alerted the police and when officers opened the package they found 1,000 Viagra tablets. The police then went to McGlinchey’s home and there they found a similar package containing another 2,000 Viagra tablets as well as £1,000 cash in a microwave.
The police also found a diary containing details of McGlinchey’s clients including his clients’ doses and their steroids together with a price list. McGlinchey’s mobile phone also contained text message evidence of his drugs supplying.
McGlinchey, following his arrest, told the police he had spent £1,500 at the start of 2016 on steroids as part of a body building regime which would culminate in a show the following year.
He told the police his purchases had been partly funded by a cash settlement of £2,000 from his wife when they had divorced.
“When asked about the Viagra, he said he had lost confidence after splitting from his wife and was too embarrassed to go to the doctor to obtain Viagra and he therefore bought what he thought was a lifetime’s supply,” Judge Philip Babington said.
“It seems that the defendant has been involved in the sport or recreation of body building. It would appear that steroid use is widespread in that sport and that although the defendant first said all of the substances were for his personal use, it soon became clear that this was not the case.
“They were being shared out to others of a similar persuasion who attended the defendant as he was their personal trainer. This was borne out by the fact that his diary contains a large number of appointments on a fairly organised basis.
“The various steroids are not illegal to possess but they are illegal to supply, presumably as misuse brings with it potentially harmful side effects.
“Although he was including in an activity that is largely unknown to the majority of the community, he was not, fortunately, causing any harm or distress to members of the public as such,” he added.
Judge Babington then sentenced McGlinchey to 18 months’ imprisonment but suspended the sentence for two years.
He also made destruction and forfeiture orders in relation to the drugs and mobile phone which were seized and said that the £1,000 found in McGlinchey’s microwave should be divided equally between the Rainbow Animal Shelter in Eglinton and to Foyle Search and Rescue.
