The Department of Health has brought multiple charges against an Irish businessman who is alleged to have tried to sell an unlicensed steroid-containing cream.
Mr Donal Raymond Walsh, of Cherryfield House, Ballysimon Road, Limerick, faces six charges. It is alleged that on two occasions earlier this year at a hotel in Mill Hill, London, he obtained money by deception from separate individuals by falsely representing that jars of a "herbal" cream did not contain steroids. He is also charged with going equipped to cheat with 142 jars of Cherrydex cream and 19 jars of unlabelled cream at Heathrow airport. Two charges, brought under the Medicines Act 1968 allege that he offered for sale in the course of business a medicinal product not on the general sale list and that he possessed Cherrydex cream knowing, or having reasonable cause to know, that he was placing it on the market without the necessary marketing authorisation. A final charge is that he sold Cherrydex cream which was not of the nature of quality demanded by the purchaser.
At a hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on November 15, Mr Walsh had bail extended until December 29. He had earlier been released on conditional bail with a surety of £10,000. The court was told that he had since collapsed with stress-related heart problems. Extension of bail had been opposed by the prosecution.