A relief pharmacist from Silsden has been struck off after stealing goods worth over £4,000 in six years.

Locum Janet Lentzos, 46, of Charlton Grove, Silsden, was described as "a kleptomaniac, or very much like one" by the chairman of a Royal Pharmaceutical Society statutory committee at a hearing yesterday.

It heard she stole everything from contraceptive pills worth £2.10 from a Yeadon pharmacy to cosmetics at £2,490 from a London chemist's. She also took coins and aftershave.

Lentzos, who had previously been reprimanded by the Society for similar matters, was given 12 months in prison suspended for two years by Bradford Crown Court on April 24 1998.

Striking her off , Gary Flather, chairman of the committee, said she kept drugs "rather like a squirrel" but showed a compulsion to steal things she did not need.

"She took what she could while working as a locum," he said. "She's a kleptomaniac or very much like one.

"We should keep her out of a pharmacies as soon as possible - there should be some way employers can warn other pharmacists about locums of her characteristics."

Lentzos stole drugs and other items from three pharmacies where she worked as a locum and then took other items while on bail at another.

She claimed she previously had an addiction was hoarding the drugs "for security in case her addiction returned."

Lentzos, who did not attend the hearing, has three months to appeal and her striking off will take effect at that time if she does not appeal.

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