A MAN has been jailed for four years for his role in a £11 million fake Viagra scam.

Darrell Jacob, of Hereford Street in Brighton, was handed a four-year prison sentence for the sale and supply of unlicensed medicines and money laundering at the Old Bailey on Friday.

The 38-year-old was part of a Sussex-based gang who sold pills sourced from China and India to thousands of UK residents over seven years.

His co-conspirators, including five from Sussex, had previously been sentenced to a total of more than 20 years in prison following the long running investigation into the sale of counterfeit and unlicensed drugs.

The gang, headed by 41-year-old Neil Gilbert, of Wanderdown Close in Ovingdean, used a series of front companies claiming to sell jewellery, fishing tackle and cosmetics to accept the electronic payments and then laundered the proceeds through more than 100 bank accounts both in the UK and off-shore.

The case was delayed by both the presiding judge falling ill and also when one defendant, Seth Pennington from Hartington Road in Brighton, was hit by a lorry while walking to the court and suffered serious back injuries.

Summing up the case HHJ Wade congratulated the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for a “meticulously managed and well-focused case.”

The agency’s head of enforcement Alastair Jeffrey said: “This case shows the level and scale of organised criminality involved in the sale of unlicensed medicines.

“Those involved repeatedly tried to evade detection and made millions of pounds from their illegal activities.

“This has been a long and complex international investigation and is one of the largest we have ever prosecuted and the clear message from this case is that, if you buy medicines online, you are potentially trusting a criminal to look after your health.”