A codeine addict who contaminated packets of Nurofen Plus in a ruse to fund his habit has been jailed for 18 months.

Christopher McGuire cost the manufacturers £2.4 million and saved himself just £7 by placing strips of an anti-psychotic drug in empty packets of the painkiller and swapping them for new packets at pharmacies.

He was imprisoned by a judge at Southwark Crown Court for the "carefully thought out and skilfully executed" scheme, which created a "good deal of public fear and anxiety".