A carer conned an online pharmacy into sending her huge amounts of a prescription painkiller by ordering them in the name of her next door neighbour.

Deborah Rackley became addicted to dihydrocodeine when she was recovering from an accident at work and was taking 80 a day when she carried out the fraud.

She ordered them online from internet medical consultancies under the name of her neighbour and then intercepted the UPS couriers who delivered them.

She waited outside her home in Dawlish when she knew they were due and approached the delivery man before he reached her neighbour’s door.

She signed for the packages under the neighbour’s name and paid for the drugs on the spot, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Dihydrocodeine is a powerful painkiller similar to an opiate which was invented early in the 20th century. Its most famous addict was Nazi Luftwaffe leader Hermann Goering, who was caught with thousands of pills when captured by the allies in 1945.

Rackley, aged 44, of Exeter Road, Dawlish, admitted fraud and was ordered to do 60 hours’ unpaid community work by Recorder Mr James Watson, QC.

He told her: ’I bear in mind the person the drugs were obtained for was yourself and the background was your addiction. There was no profit and the only person who was harmed was yourself.’

Miss Emily Pitts, prosecuting, said: ’This is a highly unusual case. The only person who was impacted was the defendant herself. The fraud in this case is the false representations made to the online pharmacy.’

She said Rackley had a serious long-term addiction and had exhausted the possibilities of buying dihydrocodeine in her own name. 

She logged into the internet site under her neighbour’s name and succeeded in obtaining a prescription for the drug and ordering huge numbers of pills.

She arranged to pay cash on delivery and waited outside to intercept the courier and sign in the false name under which they had been ordered.

Rackley told police her neighbour, who is frail and rarely leaves home, had agreed to the arrangement.

Mr Jeffrey Segan, defending, said Rackley has overcome her addiction with the help of the drug service Rise in the months since her arrest.

He said she became addicted to the drugs after injuring her leg at work and taken them to cope with the strain of bringing up her family and looking after her elderly mother-in-law and mother, who has since died.

He said she deserves credit for the will power she has shown for overcoming her dependency to the drug.