A Bovingdon man, involved in what has been described as the most serious fake medicine scam in the European Union, has been jailed for eight years.

Peter Gillespie, 64, was part of a £4.7 million operation to import from China to the UK two million doses of counterfeit prescription drugs for conditions including heart disease and prostrate cancer.

By mimicking authentic, properly manufactured and tested medicines to suggest they were of EU origin, Gillespie illegally infiltrated the highly-regulated system designed to protect the public and pharmaceutical industry.

Andrew Marshall, prosecuting, said patients had been put at “risk” and that the system had been corrupted.

He said: "This case is considered to represent the most serious breach of the medicine control regime - it's the most serious breach that has happened in the EU.

"It has had far-reaching effects for the pharmaceutical industry, control mechanisms, patients and the confidence of the public.

"The purpose of this activity is not some beneficial motivation. It's to obtain the profits of buying illegal goods cheaply and selling them as if they were genuine."

A jury at Croydon Crown Court convicted Gillespie of conspiring to defraud pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists and members of the public.

The Bovingdon High Street resident was also found guilty of selling or supplying drugs without marketing authorisation between January 2006 and June 2007 and charged with acting as a company director while disqualified.

Four other men; his brother Ian, 59, of The Green, Marsh Baldon, Oxfordshire; Richard Kemp, 61, of School Lane, Y Waen, Flint, north Wales; Ian Harding, 58, of Lower Westwood, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire; and James Quinn, 70, of Virginia Park, Virginia Water, Surrey, were acquitted of all charges.