A pharmacist who stole two packs of compact discs from his employer has had his name removed from the register by the Statutory Committee.
At its hearing on October 20, 1999, the committee inquired into the case of Mr Jaswinder Singh Daffu, of 28 Alleyn Park, Norwood Green, Southall, Middlesex. Information had been received that, on November 10, 1998, at Rochford and Southend-on-Sea magistrates court, Mr Daffu had pleaded guilty to and been convicted of having stolen two packs of three compact discs belonging to Tesco, contrary to the Theft Act 1968. For that offence, Mr Daffu had been fined £300 and ordered to pay £70 costs.
Mr Daffu was present at the hearing, and was represented by Mr H Persaud, of MacKenzie & Persaud (solicitors).
Mr G. R. F. Hudson, of Walker Martineau (solicitors), placed the facts of the case before the committee.
The committee heard that on August 18, 1998, Mr Daffu had been working as a locum pharmacist at Tesco's supermarket, Westcliffe on Sea. After he had finished work at 9pm, he was stopped and searched as part of a random search policy operated by Tesco. Two packs, each containing three compact discs, were found in his briefcase covered over with paper. When challenged, he said he had paid for them at the Tesco branch at Loudwater, High Wycombe, from which he had made purchases earlier that day. However, there was no record of any such sale at that branch and the police were called.
Interviewed by the police, Mr Daffu had admitted that he had stolen the compact discs, explaining that he had forgotten to pay because of the rush at the end of the day and also that he had not been given the opportunity to do so because the store was closed.
Giving the committee's decision, the chairman (Mr Gary Flather, QC) said that it was unclear whether Mr Daffu meant that, after having been caught, he should then have been allowed to pay. But it was ludicrous to say that there was no opportunity to do so, given the number of tills in a large store. "If only he had owned up," said the chairman.
In mitigation, it had been said that Mr Daffu was under stress because of family matters and health worries. He had produced references. But his offence was one of dishonesty, of theft from an employer. When a company employed a pharmacist as a relief manager or locum, it expected, rightly, that it was going to get somebody of good quality, without such tendencies. The committee found his misconduct, involving a breach of trust and theft from an employer, too serious to be dealt with other than by ordering the removal of his name from the register.
Mr Daffu had three months in which to appeal against the striking-off order.