Pharmacy thief given 30 months

A FORMER Albury man who hatched the idea of breaking into a pharmacy at Henty while on a train trip from Sydney has been jailed for 30 months on a charge of aggravated break, enter and steal.

Michael Douglas Collins, 33, has been sentenced in the District Court at Albury to a minimum term of 15 months backdated to July last year and expiring on September 30 this year.

Judge Martin Blackmore imposed a further 15 months on parole which expires on December 31 next year.

He took into account when sentencing a charge of goods in custody with Collins having a Victorian Centrelink pension concession card when arrested in Albury.

Collins and another man travelled on the XPT from Sydney on April 13 last year.

The other man had a ticket to Melbourne and the destination for Collins was Culcairn.

They began talking before boarding the train and Collins indicated he knew the Henty township and where the pharmacy was located.

Both of them had a “shot” of heroin before getting off the train at Henty about 4am and walked to the main street.

Collins picked up a metal rubbish bin and used it to smash a glass panel in the front door.

The other man climbed through the broken glass, but Collins was unable because of a back problem.

He went to the rear door which was opened for him and both men collected prescription medication.

Collins put a variety of medication in his backpack, the other man gathered some and they both walked back to the railway line.

A man living near the pharmacy heard breaking glass, saw what happened and alerted police.

But when they arrived, they were unable to find anyone.

Collins and the other man got on a goods train which had stopped briefly at a rail crossing and travelled to Albury after sorting and sharing the medication.

Police were called to the Albury station about 10.20am regarding an intoxicated person and found the other man with a cache of drugs.

A further search located Collins nearby and he was arrested with a large amount of medication.

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Pharmacy thief given 30 months