No Valentine's day for fake viagra pusher

9:23am Monday 6th November 2006

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A MAN who ran one of Europe's largest counterfeit Viagra factories had his £1.2 million confiscation order upheld by top judges.

Allen Valentine, of Harrow Weald, was jailed for five-and-a-half-years after admitting conspiracy to supply class C drugs between January 1 2001 and April 21 2004 as well as two charges involving breaches of the Trade Marks Act and Medicines Act.

He was handed the sentence in October 2004 at Harrow Crown Court and was also hit with the £1,216,940 confiscation order, which he challenged unsuccessfully.

Valentine, 46, of Kynaston Wood, Harrow, was prosecuted after police raided his factory in April 2004.

His business, in Wembley, with a warehouse in Watford, could produce 500,000 tablets a day, the prosecution claimed.

And Valentine's "sophisticated" international operation, which also churned out steroids and cartons of potentially dangerous anti-anxiety pills, had the potential to make him millions.

Just 24 hours before he was arrested, the father-of-two offered £1.25m cash for a palatial mansion in one of the country's most sought-after areas and arranged delivery of a new £26,500 Jeep Cherokee.

His case reached London's Appeal Court as he challenged the confiscation order on grounds that it was excessive and based on unfair speculation.

His QC, Michael Topolski, attacked the legislation underpinning the order as "Draconian", while the order itself was based on an exaggerated assumption about potential profits to be made from the drug factory.

But, after an hour in court on Friday, Lord Justice Scott Baker dismissed the appeal, adding that the court would give its reasons at a later date.