Forged Viagra prescription lands conman with fine and suspended prison sentence

A clumsy man learned the hard way that forging prescriptions does not pay, although his careless actions landed him with £85 costs, a £80 victim surcharge and he was also sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for a year.

Mahfooz Ulhaq, 45, of Aspley Park Drive, Aspley, attempted to add the popular erectile dysfunction medication Viagra to his two prescriptions for other drugs. The somewhat ludicrous mistakes made it immediately obvious though that something was suspicious to the sceptical pharmacists.

Not only had Ulhaq tried to scribble something resembling his doctor’s handwriting – and failing miserably – but he had comically misspelt Viagra and had actually scribbled “100ml” instead of the correct dosage of 100mg. As most people know, Viagra is manufactured in a tablet form, shaped like a diamond, and is often referred to as ‘the little blue pill’.

Falsifying prescriptions for prescription-only medication is no laughing matter however, and Ulhaq’s suspended prison sentence reflects this.

Ulhaq stood up in the dock at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court and admitted the two charges of making false prescriptions with the intention of gaining pharmaceutical drugs.

Neil Hollett, prosecuting, described how Ulhaq had first attempted to obtain the drugs from the City Hospital’s outpatients’ pharmacy and failing that, then from a nearby Boots pharmacy.

“On the first occasion a member of staff brought to the attention of the pharmacist that the defendant was back to collect some medication he already had,” he said.

“They could see the doctor’s handwriting had been overwritten and other medication added on the prescription. It also contained spelling errors. It was shown to the doctor who had prescribed it and found to be fraudulently altered.”

Mr Hollett also commented how another member of staff had said Ulhaq asked for disguised bottles to be used in the dispending of his medication as ‘he didn’t want his family knowing what he was diagnosed with’.

The second attempted acquisition of Viagra saw Ulhaq drop off a prescription and say he would be back the next day to collect his medication.

However, upon closer inspection of the prescription given by Ulhaq, the member of staff noticed a glaring error – it stated 100ml instead of 100mg (an actual Viagra dosage). “They believed it had been altered”, said Mr Hollett.

The next day when Ulhaq returned to collect his medication he was met with a firm refusal after the prescribing doctor had confirmed suspicions that the inclusion of Viagra had indeed been falsified.
Unsurprisingly, Ulhaq was arrested, admitting to police he had written on both prescriptions but bizarrely claimed he had no intention of getting the Viagra.

His excuse was flimsy at best, claiming he had lost another prescription and had written on those ones to remind himself what had been on there.

Chris Brewin, in mitigation, said: “Mr Ulhaq is extremely unwell. He has spinal problems which affect his mobility. Daily life for Mr Ulhaq is extremely difficult. He was prescribed Viagra but what happened was the separate prescription became soiled, and the solution was to add Viagra to another prescription. He knows this was wrong. He is very disappointed to find himself back before the court.”

Magistrate Patricia Boyce-Forgenie concluded: “It is very serious. You are on a lot of medication and do not know how Viagra would have interacted with the other medication. It was very risky thing to do.”