Pharmacist allowed to appeal Controlled Drug conviction
Pharmacist Gary Fisher is to be allowed to appeal against his conviction in March 2006 for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
In a preliminary hearing in London’s Appeal Court last week, Mr
Justice Burton said that the trial judge’s claimed misdirection
of the jury — he told them they could convict on the cocaine charges
even if they were not sure that particular drug was involved — was
cause for concern. “The prosecution named the drug, namely by alleging
a conspiracy to supply cocaine, but the learned judge left it open to
the jury to convict in the way in which we have described,” he
said. “It remains for the full court to decide whether that is
the correct interpretation.”
It was the prosecution’s case at his trial that Mr Fisher, formerly
of Upton St Leonards, Gloucestershire, had, over a period of years, supplied
20kg of mannitol, which is commonly used to double the apparent quantity
of cocaine. When his pharmacy at Matson, Gloucestershire, was searched, £50,000
in bundled cash was found in a safe in the toilet floor.
Mr Fisher, who is listed in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s
practising register, is currently in prison and is due to be released
in November.
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