Lisburn beautician given suspended prison sentence over unauthorised products

When the case against Nadine Poole was first called, a security officer told Lisburn Magistrates Court the 39-year-old was “having a medical incident.”

“Well, we will pass it and see what happens,” District Judge Rosie Watters told defence counsel Ciara Cunningham.

A short time later, Poole walked into court supported by a relative and sat in the public gallery as her case was dealt with.

Judge Watters said that having heard the contest, there was no requirement to rehearse the facts of the case.

At the end of a 90-minute contested hearing in May, Poole was convicted of 12 counts of having unauthorised medicinal products for sale or supply, in addition to possessing Class C drug gabapentin.

In entering the convictions, Judge Watters said given the amounts of medicines seized, in addition to the fact that Poole had a treatment room set-up and the “very relevant” previous convictions, she was sure of Poole’s guilt.

“It all points to having these medicines in the defendant’s possession for the purpose of her aesthetic business,” Judge Watters ruled as she recorded the guilty verdicts.

Poole, whose address is listed as Doll House Beauty, Whitehill Lodge in Lisburn, was convicted on charges of having unauthorised medicinal products for sale or supply, one charge of possessing medicinal products with intent to supply and simple possession of gabapentin.

During the contest, the judge had heard that enforcement officers from the Department of Health attended the defendant’s home on 28 January 2025.

The property was searched, and as well as the “treatment room,” officers uncovered a number of products which were either unlicensed for use in the UK or EU, only available on prescription, or both.

Some of the materials were being kept in the fridge, and Judge Watters heard that amongst the medicines seized was Botox, lidocaine, dermal fillers, “skinny jab, semaglutide,” different types of vitamin B12 injections, tanning injections, saline, and materials used to dissolve dermal fillers.

Michelle Keatings, a lead pharmacist and pharmacy inspector within the Medicines Regulatory Group (MRG) at the Department of Health, gave evidence that she inspected all of the materials seized.

She outlined that while much of the material was not licensed for use in the EU, some of the vials had labels which were not in English.

Ms Keatings told the court that as such, there were no guarantees over the “strength, quality or efficacy” of the medicines being used, including those being injected into clients.

The search uncovered medicines not in Poole’s name, including fat dissolvers, gabapentin and laxative Laxido, and the expert pharmacist inspector contended that under the legislation, once a medicine has a label on it, it cannot be used or shared with anyone else.

Giving evidence on her own behalf, Poole claimed that due to her own health difficulties and other issues in her life, she had not worked or had clients for more than a year before the search in January 2025.

She further claimed that by coincidence, on the day her home was searched, her mum and a “DIY man” had come to take the treatment room apart.

In August 2024, she entered guilty pleas to two charges of advertising prescription-only medicines and four charges of having unauthorised medicinal products for sale, committed on dates between 27 September and 29 November 2023.

Lodging a plea in mitigation today Miss Cunningham told the court it was not a case of Poole “going out and buying new medicines” after that previous case.

“It’s not an excuse but the medications were medications that she would personally use herself,” defence counsel said, submitting that showed how Poole was confident in using them on others.

She emphasised that “the past two years have not been easy for her,” and while she expressly stated there were matters in Poole’s personal life “that I won’t go into extensively, but she has her own mental and physical health struggles.”

Describing the defence put forward by Poole as “a bit unbelievable,” Judge Watters told the defendant “I am completely unimpressed by how you dealt with this.”

With the case being adjourned on two previous occasions, including once when Poole had another medical emergency in the courthouse itself, the judge added that Poole “really ought to have pleaded guilty and dealt with a long time ago.”

She imposed fines of £300 on each of the 12 offences under The Human Medicines Regulations 2012, and a three-month prison sentence for possessing gabapentin, which was suspended for three years.

Judge Watters warned Poole that if she committed any further offence in that period, she would have to serve the three months in addition to any other sentence.

She further warned the defendant that “if there is any further offending, it should go to the Crown Court because I do not think I have sufficient sentencing powers to deal with it.”

Having heard that Poole is in receipt of benefits, the judge allowed her 20 weeks to pay the £3,600.