Aiden Luke Patterson, aged 25, of Corby Hill in Carlisle, is scheduled to appear for sentencing in September after stealing medication from Well Pharmacy in Denton Holme on August 4 and 5.

Mr Patterson also broke into another Well branch, on Orton Road, two days earlier. Manager Megan Bannister told C+D he had cut himself when he broke into the premises through a window on August 2. The blood he left behind meant police were able to make a swift arrest. 

Mr Patterson broke two windows – one into the consultation room and one into the staff toilet – but did not get any further, she told C+D.

“There is CCTV in the shop directly outside the consultation room so that’s probably why he didn’t go any further, and the toilets were bolted from the outside. We didn’t find out until the next morning. He had gone through our bins, so there was quite a mess.”

Controlled drugs stolen

Mr Patterson also targeted the nearby Well branch on Denton Street in the early hours of August 4, and stole pain medication.

Police found a “large amount of drugs” on a nearby street, but “some” oramorph, pregabalin, and gabapentin were missing, Cumbria Police reported on Saturday (August 4).

Dave Watson, head of facilities management at Well, said the Denton Street branch was able to open again later that day, however, “the pharmacy team could only provide a prescription service”.

Well told C+D it is currently considering what extra security measures may be needed at the pharmacy.

Last year, a C+D investigation exclusively revealed the extent and severity of crime that pharmacists and their staff face across the UK. Read C+D's in-depth analysis of the pharmacy crime data, and view an interactive map of crime data from UK's 45 police authorities here.