A CROSSGATES woman forged prescriptions to get drugs for her own use, while manager of Benarty Medical Centre, a Court has heard.

Deborah Thow, from Droverhall Place, admitted at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, on Thursday, that between 11th May and 13th June, 2014, at ASDA, Halbeath, and Johnson’s Pharmacy, Cardenden; Benarty Medical Centre, and elsewhere, she formed a fraudulent scheme to obtain a quantity of medication.

The charge added that as office manager of Benarty Medical Centre, and without authority from a medical practitioner, she generated a quantity of repeat prescriptions, printed and signed these using the name of a medical practitioner, and also one patient.

She then presented the prescriptions to employees of the pharmacies, pretending that these were genuine, that she had authority to obtain medication on behalf of the patient, and fraudulently induce them to to dispense the medication.

Depute-fiscal, Dev Kapadia, told Sheriff Craig McSherry that accused had previously been suspended from her job in 2012 following a situation whereby she obtained a box of co-codamol by means of a false prescription. She was given a final warning and the matter was not reported to police.

However, on 11th May 2014 she went to ASDA, at the Halbeath Retail Park, and handed a prescription over in the name of a man, who was a patient at the Benarty Medical Centre, and obtained two boxes of co-codamol.

Then on 7th June, she went back there and offered a prescription in the name of the same man and obtained another two boxes of the drug.

Six days later she went to Johnson’s, in Cardenden, where she asked for an extra box of co-codamol to be added to the practice’s stock order. Being recognised as an employee of the practice she was given the medication.

Some days later suspicions were raised at the pharmacy over Thow’s actions and Benarty Medical Centre was contacted over the circumstances.

Thow was asked to a meeting by management at the Centre where she admitted that she had obtained the drugs for her own use and her employment was terminated and police were called in.

Police inquiries uncovered CCTV footage of accused at the pharmacies obtaining co-codamol.

It was later found that an alert had been placed on her GP file that she was not to be given the substance as she was addicted to it.

Sheriff McSherry called for social inquiry reports. He also advised Thow to seek legal advice as she had appeared at the hearing without a solicitor.

Sentence was deferred until 13th May.