Caught with a rucksack full of drugs hours after burglary

Henderson, 35, had a long record of offences, including another burglary from the same premises in 2003 and a robbery from Boots’ Pharmacy in 2018.

He was yesterday jailed for four years by the Royal Court.

As well as carrying most of the medication he had stolen – which he initially told police he had found on the Bridge – Henderson was still wearing the same clothes that he had on when he broke into the pharmacy.

They matched with the shop’s internal CCTV footage.

As well as admitting the burglary, Henderson also pleaded guilty to six counts of possessing prescription medication – five that were class C-rated plus the class B drug codeine.

He later admitted that all the drugs in the rucksack were from the burglary.

However, the court heard that some medicines taken from the store were not accounted for among those found in the rucksack.

Henderson said that he had taken these already.

Despite the number of drugs found, Crown Advocate Chris Dunford, prosecuting, said the guilty pleas to possession were accepted and the prosecution was not pressing ahead with a supply charge.

The burglary had taken place on the night of 14 February.

Henderson broke in through a perspex roof at the rear of the property, causing £3,000-worth of damage.

CCTV footage showed him using scissors to break a safe as well as taking various drugs, including diazepam, temazepam and codeine phosphate, from the shelves in one of the pharmacy’s dispensaries.

After the theft was discovered the following morning, police officers were given a description of the clothes worn by the burglar and this led to officers catching Henderson later that day.

The offences were committed just five weeks after Henderson was released from prison for another offence and while he was still subject to an adult custody supervision order.

Advocate Samuel Steel said Henderson admitted the offences.

He had that night had a serious argument with his partner and had drunk half a litre of vodka.

He could not remember much about the break-in but wanted diazepam to help his mood.

He apologised for damage caused and said he would repay the pharmacy.

Since being in prison he had started working with a psychotherapist in an effort to address his long-standing drug problems that had started in his childhood, and had taken up academic studies in prison.

While the probation report assessed him as having a high risk of reoffending, he hoped that the work he was doing with the prison would reduce this.

The court also took an offence of possession of a class B synthetic cannabinoid into consideration in sentencing.

Judge Catherine Fooks said the possession offences were treated as aggravating factors to the burglary.

While there needed to be deterrent element to the sentence, Judge Fooks said that change was possible for Henderson and what happened next was up to him.

He was jailed for a total of four years, with the main sentence being for the burglary plus three months, concurrent, for the class C drugs possession and four months, concurrent, for the class Bs.

A forfeiture and destruction order was made for the drugs.