mortgage adviser swindled £200,000 from friends and associates to feed his spiralling gambling addiction, a Court heard.

Kevin Barker’s victims included Paul Brook, who was best man at his wedding, and another friend who was a godparent to his children, Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday.

Barker, 31, was jailed for 18 months, but the judge, Recorder Paul Watson QC, said he had greatly reduced the sentence after reading glowing references from the complainants, who had not wanted him to be jailed.

Prosecutor Stephanie Hancock told the court Barker had abused the trust of close friends and associates, who he had advised through his part-owned company, K & B Mortgage Solutions, by telling them an “outright lie” about what he said was an opportunity to make money in property development.

Miss Hancock said 16 complainants put in various amounts of money, ranging from £5,000 to £25,000. She said they took out personal loans and readjusted their finances, on the promise that they would make money.

Miss Hancock told the court: “There was never any property development opportunity. It did not exist. He told lies to cover his gambling addiction. It spiralled out of control when he started borrowing from friends to pay back what he owed to others.”

She said Barker told one complainant his grandmother had died, another that his mother had got breast cancer, and a third that he had a funeral to attend in Liverpool, all claims which his supportive family said were true.

Miss Barker said the defendant’s mother discovered what her son had done and phoned all the complainants to tell them the truth and assure them she would try to pay them back.

Barker, of Derwent Road, Bolton, Bradford, then handed himself into police and admitted to what he had done. He pleaded guilty to 16 charges of fraud. Miss Hancock said that such was the affection of the complainants for the defendant, they did not want to give details to police.

Barker’s lawyer, Michael Reeves, said his client was misguided and that since his confession, Barker had attempted to deal with his addiction and had attended Gamblers Anonymous.

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline was today accused of producing a ‘defective’ Parkinson’s Disease drug which turned a happily married father into a gay sex addict.

Didier Jambart, 52, appeared before a court in the French city of Nantes, to demand £390,000 in compensation from the company.

He began taking ReQuip tablets in 2003 after he was prescribed it to treat Parkinson’s disease, but then his behaviour changed beyond recognition.

Mr Jambart became a compulsive gay sex addict and began exposing himself on the Internet and cross-dressing.

His dangerous sexual encounters led to him being raped, he claimed.

‘After first taking the drugs I was bursting with energy,’ said Mr Jambart. ‘I would get up at four in the morning and run ten-and-a-half kilometers, but later, it went more than too far.

‘My life was ruined, my family and I were treated like we had the plague.’

Mr Jambart said he became so depressed that he attempted suicide eight times.

‘I have to take this matter to court – it may be a David and Goliath struggle but after all I’ve been through I want to get my dignity back,’ he said.

ReQuip – which is also known as Ropinirole - was known to produce strange side effects on some users, but a warning only appeared on its package in 2006 – a year after Mr Jambart started taking it, said Mr Jambart’s lawyers.

Jacques-Antoine Robert, a lawyer representing GlaxoSmithKline in the case, said scientific knowledge at the time of Mr Jambart’s problems did not suggest ‘any indication of the effects of Ropinirole’.


Claim: GlaxoSmithKline refute Mr Jambert's lawyers' claim that they produced a 'defective drug'

He admitted there was a possibility of an ‘extremely rare reaction’ but said that the evidence did not point to his GlaxoSmithKline producing a ‘defective drug’, as Mr Jambart’s lawyers claim.

Jacqueline Houdayer, the president of the CADUS patients’ aid group in France, said she had been contacted by 100 other people who had suffered similar side effects to Mr Jambart.

Last year former British IT manager Peter Shepherd, 60, ended up in court after he underwent an astonishing personality change when prescribed Cabergoline – another Parkinson’s disease drug - by his GP in 2001.

Mr Shephard told how he became a sex-crazed transvestite and blew 400,000 pounds on a luxury lifestyle.

A judgement in the Didier Jambart case is expected today.

Former Judge Michael T. Toole tore through a 30-pack of beer a night at the height of the alcoholism and "pathological" gambling addiction that clouded his judgment and complicated his final years on the bench, his attorney told a federal judge Friday.

The 51-year-old father of two hit rock bottom after federal prosecutors charged him two years ago with illegally accepting free use of a New Jersey beach house and failing to pay taxes on an attorney referral fee - charges he is scheduled to be sentenced for on April 8.

Since then, he has made a remarkable recovery, defense attorney Frank Nocito told U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy at a hearing on Mr. Toole's objections to a pre-sentencing report.

Mr. Toole completed an inpatient program at the Marworth treatment center in Waverly, sees an addiction counselor and regularly attends meetings of the 12-step support group Alcoholics Anonymous, Mr. Nocito said.

He no longer drinks, no longer gambles and has repaired relationships with his wife, Donna, and college-age son and daughter that became severely strained by alcohol. "Michael recognized that he needed help," Mr. Nocito said.

Mr. Toole's drinking evolved from the casual curiosities of high school and college to full-on alcoholism as an adult, manifesting in the late 1990s in a daily pattern of work followed by long hours at the bar, drinking and gambling, Mr. Nocito said.

Mr. Toole, who pleaded guilty to accepting an illegal gratuity from an attorney and for failing to pay taxes on a "finder's fee" he received from another attorney, declined to comment as he left court.

Two new U.S. studies suggest special drug courts are far less effective than thought at combating addiction, reducing case backlogs and lowering the number of low-level, nonviolent offenders in jail.

The Justice Policy Institute and the Drug Policy Alliance have released reports that show the legal system is a lousy alternative to community intervention when dealing with addiction.

Drug courts were meant to decrease the number of people in prison for drug offences, help addicts kick their habits and improve public safety.

By helping non-violent offenders overcome their addictions and improve their social stability, the court programs hoped to reduce the criminal behaviour associated with substance abuse while eliminating backlogs.

Nice in theory, but not in practice.

Drug treatment in the community can reduce the potential for relapse by 8.3 per cent and produce $21 in benefits to victims and taxpayers in terms of reduced crime for every dollar spent, the authors of one paper say.

Treatment in prison produced only $7.74 in benefits, and drug courts less than $2 in benefits for every dollar spent.

The authors of both documents argue that a far more jaundiced eye is needed in evaluating the efficacy of the two-decades-old strategy.

Pioneered in Florida as a way of dealing with the cocaine-fuelled crime spree of the late 1980s and early 1990s, drug courts have not produced the desired results elsewhere and may exacerbate the problems they're supposed to alleviate.

That's a big alarm bell because across the U.S. now there are more than 2,500 drug courts processing 55,000 people annually.

They annually cost the states an estimated $138 million and Washington an additional $40 million.

Moreover, Canada picked up this idea from the U.S., opening our first drug court in Toronto in 1998.

Vancouver followed suit in December 2001, at first as a four-year experiment with funding assistance from the federal government. In 2006 the program was extended, with the feds and Victoria sharing the annual $1.5-million cost.

Now there are courts in Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg and Calgary, and the feds are kicking in $3.5 million a year across the country. As in the U.S., these courts deal with eligible cherry-picked offenders recommended by prosecutors who are charged with a minor offence; those who take part but screw up are bounced back to the regular court system.

In exchange for participating, the offenders are given expensive treatment and community support to address the constellation of social and health issues that has trapped them in the cycle of addiction and petty crime.

We don't really know if this costly delivery of health and social services is good value for money.

Ottawa, Victoria and the office of the Chief Judge of the B.C. Provincial Court could not provide recent numbers or evaluations of the countrywide experiment.

The most recent data available about the Vancouver court is pre-2008 and indicates only 14 per cent of participants completed the program; the remainder (65 per cent) withdrew voluntarily or were discharged by the Crown, or (20 per cent) were asked to leave. Half (52 per cent) of all participants had new charges and about 24 per cent had new convictions within six months after their participation in the program ended.

Processing those who completed the program was supposedly more cost-efficient ($22,248) than the regular processing for a matched comparison group ($26,736).

But those numbers are suspect, and there was no attempt to pose the questions the American researchers raise.

These courts may be a better option than incarceration, but south of the border they also have unexpectedly widened the net of those who are arrested.

They are certainly no panacea.

Although they were intended to reduce backlogs and drug offences, in fact police busts for petty $10 and $20 sales increased.

Today's thoughts from Hazelden are:

F.I.N.E.
[I'm] Frustrated, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional

F.E.A.R.
Face Everything And Recover

N.U.T.S.
Not Using The Steps

E.G.O.
Edging God Out.

D.E.N.I.A.L.
Don't Even Notice I Am Lying.

H.A.L.T.
[Don't get too] Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.

H.O.P.E.
Happy Our Program Exists

H.O.W.
Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness

S.P.O.N.S.O.R.
Sober Person Offering Newcomers Suggestions On Recovery.

G.O.D.
Good Orderly Direction

B.I.G. B.O.O.K.
Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge.

S.L.I.P.
Sobriety Losing Its Priority.

A.C.T.I.O.N.
Any Change To Improve Our Nature.

P.R.O.G.R.A.M.
People Relying On God Relaying A Message.

S.T.E.P.S.
Solutions To Every Problem Sober

K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple, Sweetheart

More than 170 companies - including the leading supermarket chains - have signed up to the "responsibility deal" to encourage healthier lifestyles.

The full details will be unveiled later, but pledges on calorie counts on menus and clearer labelling on drinks are expected to be made.

The voluntary agreements for England cover four themes - physical activity, food, alcohol and health at work.

Ministers said the approach would achieve more than legislation could.

They will highlight the agreement to ensure 80% of alcoholic drinks carry labels about the number of units they contain by 2013. At the moment just 15% do.

Speaking ahead of the publication of the responsibility deal, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Industry has agreed to take action on a voluntary basis.

"The alternative is to use legislation and this means taking the EU route, which could take years. We want to do more at greater speed."

leader of a vicious band of bootleggers who would bury their rivals alive, has been sentenced to death by a Dubai court.
The penalty was handed down yesterday at Dubai Court of Instance, where the judge said the 24-year-old Indian was the key figure behind the “savage and brutal” murders.
The man’s gang - 11 other Indians and one Pakistani - were all jailed for life.
The case is the latest in the police’s ongoing battle against illegal alcohol sales, a trade that sees victims tortured, raped and murdered as gangs vie for control of lucrative patches.
In this case, the gang were all charged with two counts of murder after they buried two men alive in the desert near Jebel Ali. Five members had also been charged with raping the victims.
The gang were arrested after one of the victims was reported missing in January 2009. “They had swords, bars and knives. They claimed they were for protection against anyone who interfered in their business,” a CID officer told the court.

The CID officer continued: “Their leader said they were selling alcohol and that competition for turf was brutal in the area.”
The leader told police the two men were selling booze on his patch and, despite warn ings, they had refused to stop.
Finally, his gang went to their home and attacked them.
The ringleader added: “We dug a hole and buried them alive after some of the men raped them. It was a lesson to others not to encroach on our patch.” Medical reports showed the men choked to death inside their grave.
Judge Ahmad Saif, the head of Dubai Court of First Instance, said there was 1,214 cases of possessing and trad ing alcohol illegally in Dubai last year.
“The suspects are mainly Asian and they have usually escaped from their sponsors and are selling alcohol bec ause it’s a profitable business,” he said.
Last year, Jebel Ali Police Stat ion alone destroyed 36 tonnes of alcohol that it had seized from bootleggers in the area.

Actress Lindsay Lohan has rejected a plea bargain in her jewellery theft case that would have seen her returned to jail.
Lohan with her lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley in Airport Courthouse, Los Angeles
The Mean Girls star, who arrived late for her court appearance in Los Angeles, has pleaded not guilty to stealing a £1,544 necklace from a store near her home.
Superior Court judge Keith L Schwartz said if Lohan had accepted the plea agreement offered by the prosecution, he would have sent her back to prison for violating her probation.
The 24-year-old was on probation for a 2007 drink-driving case when police began investigating her for the alleged necklace theft.
She will now face a preliminary hearing that could end with her being ordered to go on trial and being sent back to jail if she is found guilty.