A judge has imposed massive fines on two shopkeepers who had illegal drugs at their chain of shops which claimed to be dealing in legal highs.
Simon Tomlin and Paris Newton were ordered to pay more than £210,000 in fines, costs and confiscation orders after they admitted having banned substances at their shops.
The penalties imposed at Exeter Crown Court came at the end of a long legal battle which is seen by the police to be a key test case in their efforts to control the industry in designer drugs.
Tomlin and Newton were co-directors of one of the region's biggest legal high businesses and ran shops in Exeter, Exmouth, Torquay and Taunton.
They were found with recently banned chemicals worth up to £220,000 when they were raided in December 2010 but it has taken until this week for them to admit their involvement.
Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, said the fines reflected the value of the illegal drugs and the huge profits which both men were making from the trade.
They were each taking salaries and profits of around £140,000 a year and the shops had a turnover of more than £1 million a year.
The illegal drugs were almost six kilograms and 126 tablets of a mixture of two chemicals called BZP (benzopiperazine) and TFMPP (triflouromethypiperazine). When combined they make up a designer drug which has a number of street names.
They were selling with names like Benzo-Fury or Sidewinder but at the time it was also known as Rapture and was a widely used rave drug until it was banned in December 2009.
Tomlin runs shops called Hush in Fore Street, Exeter; The Strand in Exmouth, and Bridge Street, Taunton. Newton runs the Mushroom head shop in Torquay.
Tomlin, aged 30, of St David's Hill, Exeter, and Newton, aged 41, of Thurlow Road, Torquay, both admitted possession of BZP and TFMPP with intent to supply.
Newton also admitted possession of cannabis and a mixture of BZP and TFMPP at his home.
Tomlin was fined £72,000 and Newton £83,000 and they were each ordered to pay £25,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act and £3,500 costs. The total amount adds up to £212,000.
The judge told them:"You were the directors and controlling minds of a successful business selling legal highs. You were both running a very profitable business but had products for sale with a significant percentage of illegal substances. It was your responsibility to check what was in them."
He said they put staff and customers at risk of prosecution and users at risk of physical and psychological harm through mis labeling of the products, which were sold as plant food or research chemicals.
He said:"I very much doubt if your customers were gardeners or research chemists. This was a cynical and very transparent attempt to hide the fact there was something questionable about these products without saying so.
"Selling legal highs puts a very high duty on you to make sure that nothing illegal is for sale on the premises.
"In some respects this is even more serious than selling illegal drugs on the streets. If someone buys heroin, cocaine or cannabis they know what they are buying.
"If they go to a shop that purports to sell legal highs but the products are not labeled adequately, that is more culpable, if anything."
Mr Jonathan Barnes, prosecuting, said the drugs mimicked the effects of ecstasy or amphetamines and were made illegal a year before the raid on the Hush shops.
The illegal drugs were found at the Exeter shop and Newton's home and their value was estimated at between £120,000 and £230,000.
Mr Martin Meeke, QC, defending Tomlin, said he and Newton had bought what they believed to be legal substances but had been deceived by suppliers who were keen to get rid of their stocks after they were made illegal.
He said his client now checks the legality of his products by monitoring the Home Office website and submitting them for analysis to ensure their authenticity. He also checked the age of customers.
Mr Brendan Moorhouse, for Newton, said his client's position was no different from that of major supermarkets who were caught up in the horsemeat scandal because he had not intended to break the law but been let down by his suppliers.
He said the pills seized at Newton's home had been stock he removed from his shop when the law changed but had not got round to throwing away.
