Gym boss jailed for selling deadly fat-burning pills in landmark Scottish case

A gym boss has been jailed for more than three years for flogging potentially deadly fat-burning pills.

Jamie George, 32, was selling 2,4-dinitrophenol capsules – commonly known as DNP – in “a significant manufacturing operation” from his garden shed in Denny.

The illegal substance is used by bodybuilders as a way of stripping fat and is thought to have killed 33 people in the UK – two of them Scots.

Father of three George, who owns Muscle Hut gym in Falkirk, earlier pleaded guilty culpable and reckless endangerment of life, by supplying the pills over a four year period between May 1, 2017, and October 8, 2021.

He was on Tuesday jailed for three years and one month. It is the first conviction of it’s kind in Scotland.

Two women on the public benches wept, but the tattooed muscle-bound hulk showed no visible emotion as he was led to the cells.

Imposing the sentence Sheriff Derek Hamilton said: “While inquiries were ongoing you were served with a remedial action notice requiring you to cease manufacture, distribution and sale.

“You were well aware of the dangers of DNP. You took no notice of that and continued your trade.

“All the evidence points to your gain being very significant. You knew some years ago of the dangers of DNP, but even with that
knowledge, you continued to put people’s lives at risk.”

George was detained after a major criminal probe involving the Food Standards Scotland (FSS), Police Scotland and Falkirk Council,
including a 2021 investigation by undercover police.

The court heard that in June 2018, officers from Food Standards Scotland, acting on intelligence, raided George’s then home in Falkirk armed with a warrant.

Mr Moncrieff, the deputy fiscal, said: “The floor, walls and contents of the garden shed were all heavily contaminated and stained with a yellow powder.”

They found equipment including disposable gloves, a capsule filling machine capable of turning out 100 pills at a time, 10,000 empty
capsule shells, nearly £1500 in cash, and scores of completed Royal Mail Special Delivery slips.

Investigations showed George had been posting supplies to customers as far afield as Asia, Australia and the USA from Laurieston Post Office, Falkirk, where he was a regular customer, as well as more locally, to fitness fans who met him through his gym or internet chat rooms. He also advertised online.

He was warned to stop, but continued all the same. George was arrested in October 2018 after a further raid on his home in Denny.

He told police he was aware that DNP was classified as a poison and was not safe for human consumption, and he was aware of the dangers of taking it, including that the lethal dose is not known.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told that DNP is a highly toxic industrial chemical, used in the manufacture of explosives, insecticide, and in photographic development.

James Moncrieff, prosecuting, said that taking it, however, put users at “high risk” of kidney failure, liver failure, coma, convulsions, and cardiac arrest.

The court was also told that the accounts of the Muscle Hut showed it had an annual turnover of £235,00.

Another analysis identified the receipt of £50,000 of “suspicious money” over a one year period, though again how much of
that was from DNP is unclear.

A further hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act was set for October 4, for the Crown to recover George’s ill-gotten gains.

Ron McNaughton, head of the Scottish Food Crime Incident Unit, welcomed the result.

He said: “It’s a landmark conviction, the first of its kind in Scotland, and it sends a clear message to individuals who are prepared
to put people at risk, with a total disregard for the consequences and the fact that they are putting people’s lives in danger in order to
make a financial profit.

“It’s critically important for us to highlight the dangers associated with DNP.

“If you take DNP you are likely to become ill, you may become seriously ill, and there’s a possibility that you may die. I can’t be any clearer than that. It is so toxic.”

Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our daily newsletter here.

READ NEXT: