Tanya Petrie, registration number 5004126, was removed from the register by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) after using a prescription bag and a bra to smuggle SIM cards and drugs into HMP Bristol, where she worked as a pharmacy technician.
At the hearings between August 18 and 19, the GPhC’s fitness-to-practise committee heard that on October 17, Petrie was spotted by police “retrieving a small flat item from a wheelie bin” and upon arrest later that day, admitted to “having a prohibited item secreted in her bra”.
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According to the hearing document, Petrie also admitted to smuggling SIM cards into the prison “in a prescription bag”.
The committee acknowledged that Petrie had admitted to “conveying the SIM cards into prison at her interview under caution”.
However, it stressed the “abuse of trust inherent in smuggling items into prison which abused her professional position”.
SIM cards in a prescription bag
The GPhC heard that on October 17, Petrie was arrested after police officers saw her collect a small package from a wheelie bin. She was strip searched and admitted to concealing the package in her bra. The clingfilm wrapped package was found to contain “cocaine, synthetic cannabinoid (spice) and nicotine”.
Petrie had attempted to smuggle in “nearly two ounces of >80% pure cocaine, which would have had a value in prison of between £12,500 and £21,000”, alongside “77g of paste containing synthetic cannabinoids”.
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Petrie was interviewed under caution, where she admitted “she had been contacted by a prisoner over Facebook and had engaged with the communication”. She told police she was initially given £800, which she collected from a bin.
She then told police that “she had taken in SIM cards to the prison in exchange for £2,000”. The seven SIM cards were hidden in a prescription bag.
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The committee heard that Petrie had entered into a “flirtatious online relationship with a man that she discovered was a prisoner with whom she nevertheless persisted in flirting with” and that she was in debt and accepted “between £900-£1,000 in cash for her actions”.
“No prior regulatory concerns”
The committee acknowledged that Petrie “was of previous good character with no prior regulatory concerns”.
But it noted the duration and persistence of the conduct, and that Petrie “smuggled items into prison repeatedly”.
The committee also stressed that the conduct was “deliberate and calculated” and “pursued for financial gain”.
They also considered the “level of harm that resulted” from Petrie’s conduct, and the “risk of more widespread harm occurring” as a result of it.
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The committee concluded that Petrie’s conduct was “of the most serious nature” and labelled her behaviour “fundamentally incompatible with being a registered pharmacy professional”, in turn deciding to remove her from the register.
The committee held that “any lesser sanction in this matter would seriously undermine the public confidence in the profession” and that the public would be “appalled if any lesser outcome than removal were applied”.
Read the determination in full here.
