Gary Hinchcliffe, 37, was sentenced for four counts of supplying prohibited drugs and one count of receiving stolen property by Acting District Court Judge Sir Robert Woods in Dubbo on Friday.

The court heard 200 bottles of morphine were found in a safe at Hinchcliffe’s house, along with several other prescription drugs, a balaclava and gloves, and the bolt cutters used to cut a padlock at the pharmacy.

Hinchcliffe pleaded guilty on October 20 to receiving the

prescription drugs that had

been stolen from the Trangie Pharmacy between January 2 and 6 this year.

He further pleaded guilty that day to four counts of supplying prohibited drugs on January 11.

The court heard the owner of the Trangie Pharmacy noticed it had been broken into on January 5 and prescription drugs had been stolen.

Police executed a search

warrant at Hinchcliffe’s house and found the drugs in a safe with a

balaclava and gloves, and bolt

cutters and other tools in his

bedroom.

Hinchcliffe said all the property had been dropped off by a friend.

A forensic examination found that the bolt cutters had been used to cut the padlock at the pharmacy.

Hinchcliffe was arrested and charged on January 11.

He is currently in custody for other drug-related matters dealt with by a magistrate in the local court in February this year.

The non-parole period for those matters ends in January next year.

The court heard Hinchcliffe was on bail for those matters at the time of committing the offences before the district court on

Friday.

The offender has a history of drug-related convictions dating back almost 20 years, as well as driving offences, larceny, firearms and receiving stolen property.

The law often saw drugs as a “destructive cancer eating away at the health of the community”, Judge Woods said.

“Crimes like this cost the community” and often have “tragic consequences”, he said.