‘My husband stole £600k for sex and antiques’ – drug side effects tearing families apart

Frances’s world imploded on a seemingly ordinary morning at work with a single phone call from the police. Her husband, Andrew, a solicitor entrusted with the financial affairs of vulnerable elderly clients, had been arrested for fraud. As she grappled with the shock, officers were simultaneously raiding their family home, a place of sanctuary for their two children. Andrew’s legal practice, nestled in a serene village south of Manchester, was a scene of professional devastation, sealed off with yellow crime tape, its staff bewildered, and its sensitive records being meticulously boxed as evidence.

The gravity of Andrew’s actions soon became chillingly clear. The police discovered that hundreds of thousands of pounds, entrusted to him by his clients – many of whom were elderly and suffering from dementia – had vanished. The investigation revealed a shocking truth: the funds had been squandered on adult webcam sites, paid for sex, and a compulsive acquisition of antiques. A subsequent court case would lay bare the devastating impact of Andrew’s behaviour, attributing his impulsive actions to the side effects of medication he was prescribed for Parkinson’s disease. In total, Andrew defrauded 13 clients, all but two of whom were over 80 years old, some already in frail health. Their collective losses amounted to a staggering £600,000. The tragic irony was that one 87-year-old client, residing in a care home, died shortly after the theft, her estate left so depleted that it could not even cover the cost of her funeral.

Reflecting on the ordeal, Frances shared, "People didn’t want to know us, and I can understand that entirely." Her daughter, Alice, added a poignant note about her father’s remorse, stating he "never forgave himself." Andrew’s descent into such destructive behaviour ultimately led to tragic consequences for his family.

While Andrew’s case is a stark and extreme example, it is far from an isolated incident. Over the past year, the BBC has documented numerous families whose lives have been irrevocably shattered by impulsive behaviours directly linked to a class of medications known as dopamine agonists. These drugs, while effective for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Restless Legs Syndrome, have been associated with a spectrum of concerning side effects, including the emergence of new and overwhelming sexual urges, leading to addictions to pornography and sex workers. Beyond these, compulsive shopping and gambling have also surfaced, with individuals losing tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds. In England alone, GPs prescribed these medications approximately 1.5 million times in the past year.

'My husband stole £600k for sex and antiques' - drug side effects tearing families apart

The National Health Service (NHS) provides clear guidance: patients experiencing any concerns while taking these medications should consult their doctor. A significant study from 2010, involving just over 3,000 individuals, revealed that one in six Parkinson’s patients on dopamine agonists developed impulse control disorders, the clinical term for this behavioural phenomenon.

In light of these findings, the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Parkinson’s, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, described the revelations as "devastating" and has formally requested the UK drugs regulator to review and potentially strengthen official warnings. Many individuals interviewed for this investigation reported having no prior history of such impulsive behaviours before commencing these medications and, initially, failed to connect their new urges with their prescriptions. They frequently expressed a feeling that doctors had either inadequately warned them of the potential risks or had not sufficiently monitored the drugs’ effects.

Andrew’s story took a further turn for the worse in the summer of 2013, shortly after his arrest. He attempted to maintain a facade of normalcy for his family that weekend. However, on Sunday, he collapsed at home and was rushed to A&E. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s a few years prior, Andrew had been prescribed Pramipexole to manage his tremors. Initially, Frances described the medication’s effects as "miraculous," with Andrew’s tremors significantly reducing, enabling him to resume activities like playing tennis.

However, during his hospitalisation, a doctor posed a life-altering question to Frances: was she aware that Pramipexole could induce a range of impulsive behaviours? This revelation came as a "terrible shock" to Frances, who could not comprehend why she had never been informed, despite attending all of Andrew’s medical appointments. While the potential side effects began to explain Andrew’s compulsive shopping habits, she was still unaware of the true scale of his financial ruin.

Before his Parkinson’s diagnosis, Andrew’s use of webcams and sex-chat sites was infrequent, roughly once a week. However, in the year following his commencement of Pramipexole, he made nearly 500 payments to these sites. He eventually spent over £100,000 on a single website, utilising his clients’ money. His expenditure on sex workers reached nearly £80,000 in just four months, and at the time of his arrest, his mobile phone contained the contact details of 90 different escorts. A keen history enthusiast, Andrew also developed a compulsion to buy antique pens, pottery, and cricket memorabilia, spending a staggering £85,000 on eBay in the six months leading up to the police raid. Alice recounted, "Dad was so ashamed from the point he was arrested, he basically didn’t leave the house."

The family endured over a year of anxious waiting before prosecutors finally laid charges. Andrew was indicted for fraud. Frances revealed that their son, Harry, "loved his dad very much," but the profound distress following his father’s arrest proved overwhelmingly difficult for Harry, who had long-standing mental health challenges. Harry’s mental health deteriorated to the point where he was sectioned. He returned home, only to disappear. Weeks later, his body was discovered; he had taken his own life.

In 2015, Andrew pleaded guilty in court. During the sentencing, the judge acknowledged that Andrew had squandered his clients’ funds on various "sexual excesses" and "absurd extravagances." Mr. Justice Openshaw expressed his belief that Andrew’s behaviour was indeed attributable to his medication, but controversially argued that as a practicing solicitor, Andrew had still been capable of managing his business affairs competently in other areas. The judge concluded that Andrew, with his family, friends, and professional network, should have sought help and recognised the medication’s impact on him. Andrew was sentenced to four years imprisonment in HM Prison Manchester, commonly known as Strangeways.

During the investigation, all of Andrew’s assets were frozen in an attempt to recover some of the stolen funds. The family’s attempts to pursue a clinical negligence case against Andrew’s doctors were thwarted by legal rules that can prevent the recovery of damages closely linked to a serious criminal act. Frances and Andrew divorced while he was in prison. Upon his release after serving two years of his sentence, Andrew moved into sheltered accommodation.

His family stated that prison had taken a significant toll on Andrew, and the Covid-19 lockdowns proved particularly challenging. He had immediately ceased taking the dopamine agonist medication upon understanding its effects, resulting in a significant advancement of his Parkinson’s symptoms. "I think his whole life got completely dismantled," Alice reflected. "Yes, because of the Parkinson’s, but really because of the drugs." In October 2020, Andrew took his own life.

Andrew’s death, and that of his son Harry, are not recorded in the UK’s Yellow Card public reporting system, managed by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), which collects reports of adverse drug effects. Furthermore, the collateral damage inflicted upon wider families by dopamine agonist drugs, including the loss of life savings or homes due to compulsive behaviours, remains unrecorded. Many individuals also reported being left without recourse to justice for their losses, citing the difficulties in mounting class-action lawsuits in the UK and the challenges in meeting the stringent requirements for clinical negligence cases, which necessitate proving a lack of adequate warning.

It has been over two decades since the link between dopamine agonist drugs and impulsive behaviour was first identified. Last year, the BBC reported that GSK, the British pharmaceutical company that initially licensed this class of drugs for Parkinson’s in the UK, had discovered as early as 2003 a connection between its medication and what it termed "deviant" sexual behaviour. Warnings were eventually issued three years later, but they only mentioned the potential for an "increased libido," "harmful behaviour," and an "altered sexual interest." Crucially, patient information leaflets still do not convey the prevalence of impulse control disorders.

Layla Moran, chair of the MPs’ Health Select Committee, is now advocating for warnings to explicitly detail the commonality of impulse control disorders and specify the range of behaviours, such as porn addiction, that can develop. "It’s not just a side effect that affects an individual; it’s affecting families and communities and creating new victims," she stated. "What does ‘impulsive behaviour’ mean and how likely is it that they [patients] can get it? At the moment, patients don’t have that information, and without it, how can they be expected to mitigate it?" Ms Moran contends that the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme is "not fit for purpose" for reporting side effects that individuals may find shameful. The government has acknowledged these findings as "hugely concerning."

However, the MHRA has stated there are no immediate plans to alter the warnings. The agency maintains that these sexual behaviours are "individualised" and therefore an "exhaustive list" cannot be included in information leaflets. They previously informed the BBC that the frequency of impulse control disorders is not detailed because many individuals do not report such issues. GSK has affirmed that its drug underwent extensive trials, received repeated regulatory approval globally, and has been prescribed for over 17 million treatments, stating that it had shared its safety concerns report with regulators. Boehringer Ingelheim, the manufacturer of Pramipexole, Andrew’s prescribed medication, declined to comment.

In 2017, guidelines from NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) mandated that doctors provide Parkinson’s patients and their families with verbal and written information regarding the risk of impulsive behaviours and to monitor their development regularly. Despite these guidelines, the BBC has heard from numerous Parkinson’s patients prescribed these drugs since their introduction who report not being adequately warned about the risks, with some currently experiencing impulsive behaviours.

Alice and Frances have relocated hundreds of miles from their former home, but the profound pain of their experiences remains. "I had my life taken away from me: my home, the community I lived in, but above all my son," Frances lamented. "I just don’t have the words to say how devastating that is."