Fulham chemist jailed over fake sex drug scheme

An illicit chemist who hoped to flood the UK with homemade sex-enhancing drugs has been jailed for 40 months.

Chistiaan Winkel, 32, of Fulham, quit his job as a University College London lecturer to make fake Cialis C20 pills, legally manufactured by Lilly UK.

The Old Bailey heard the Dutchman set up a laboratory in an east London flat where he also planned to make ecstasy.

He admitted conspiracy to defraud Lilly UK and conspiracy to manufacture ecstasy.

Winkel imported a pill-making machine and precursor chemicals from China, producing samples to show a "potential dealer".

However the dealer proved to be undercover police who had got involved after Winkel unwittingly made contact with investigators on a website.

The millionaire lifestyle he hoped this crime would fund must now seem a very long way away”

He offered them pills for erectile dysfunction.

The judge, Recorder Douglas Day, QC, told him: "You are a highly-intelligent man with great talent.

"It is a tragedy to find you here."

Det Insp Doug Blackwood said after the trial: "The millionaire lifestyle he hoped this crime would fund must now seem a very long way away."

Winkel's runner Safa Ba Seidi, 36, of Tottenham, north London, admitted conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to supply ecstasy.

He was jailed for 21 months.

When police searched his home they found legitimate substances used in Winkel's chemical import business, along with illegal ecstasy ingredients.

Winkel's girlfriend, Yuly Sandoval Mora, 33, of Holloway, north London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

She was given an eight-month suspended sentence.

Mick Deats, of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said: "This is a rare case of counterfeit medicines being manufactured in the UK.

"We generally find that counterfeit medicines found in this country have originated from the Far East."