Bogus vet sentenced to 12 months

A man who posed as a vet and dosed dogs with illegal drugs has been ordered to serve 12 months in prison.

Leonard French, 69, is said to have made more than £170,000 from dog owners, companies and hunts.

French, of Tattershall Bridge, Lincs, admitted 20 charges involving importing and selling drugs not registered for use in the UK at a hearing in June.

He was jailed at Lincoln Crown Court after Grantham magistrates said their sentencing powers were insufficient.

Undercover investigation

In sentencing, judge Michael Heath, said: "You think you've done nothing wrong, you have. The system depends on qualified persons supplying medicinal products.

"It has to be prison."

At an earlier hearing, French admitted six counts of supplying medicines, four of attempting to import medicines, three counts of possessing unregistered medicines and another three counts of selling the medicines to members of the public.

He also admitted two charges of possessing criminal property, one of administering a medicine and a further charge that he "held himself out as a practising vet or as being prepared to practise veterinary surgery without being registered".

Magistrates heard that French's £400,000 home, where he kept up to 120 lurcher dogs, was raided by police and officers from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in October 2004.

Caught on camera

Documents found at the house showed he was importing drugs from companies in Russia, France and the US for sale to British customers.

An undercover investigation by a BBC reporter more than a year after the first raid showed French still offering drugs for sale.

He pretended to be a vet and was caught on camera illegally vaccinating a dog with his own medicine.

Clive Rees, defending, told the court the medicines French had imported were not dangerous but were simply not registered for use in the UK.

In mitigation, French claimed he was an experienced dog owner who sought not to do any harm to any animals.