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A man who stole and took drugs while working on duty as a paramedic, then altered records to cover his actions, has walked free from court.
Charles Kingdom falsified paperwork claiming he had given patients higher doses of drugs than he actually had, then stole and used the difference.
Plymouth Crown Court heard how the 36-year-old had an “exemplary” record and suffered remorse for what he had done after the collapse of his marriage in 2009.
He was given a suspended sentence for charges relating to theft, fraud and falsifying a drugs register.
After the case, Kingdom apologised to his friends and family, and to South West Ambulance Trust, where he had been employed for 15 years.
“I regret my offending, I realise it was a very stupid thing to do,” he said.
“I should have had the insight to get professional help, but for whatever reason I didn’t.”
Kingdom, of Brandon Road, Plymouth, was caught taking drugs in a toilet at work at an ambulance station in the Derriford area of the city in July last year.
When police later raided his home they found 46 empty ampoules of morphine and other opiates, plus a smaller number of empty ampoules that had contained drugs which masked the side effects of morphine use.
He was later found to have altered paperwork at the scene of call outs, where he would fill in a form for the patient giving the correct dose but alter the ambulance service version to show he had given them a higher dose. Sometimes he falsified documents to show he had given drugs when he had not given any.
Copyright © Press Association 2011
