A medical doctor who told a court that work stress caused his chronic opioid addiction and led him to steal and forge prescriptions, is to be spared jail and a criminal record.

Daniel Nevin, 39, pleaded guilty at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court to the theft of prescription pads from two hospitals, as well as 46 counts of forgery and using false instruments, committed between 2021 and 2024.

His 35-year-old fiancée, Rebecca Moylan, a qualified nurse, was trying to help him cope with his addiction and admitted stealing prescriptions and unlawfully using them in pharmacies.

Judge Keenan Johnson emphasised that these offences undermined the integrity of the medical prescription system and noted Nevin was in the throes of an addiction but had never put a patient at risk.

He stated the couple whose careers have been ruined and reputations tarnished had only damaged themselves, saying, "The main victims of this are the two accused".

Nevin achieved a PhD from Trinity College, specialising in pharmacology, and had worked in medical research in Australia with his former college tutor before returning to Ireland to continue his studies, qualifying as a medical doctor in 2018.

When the addiction started in 2019, he tried to tackle it but relapsed around the period of offending.

Judge Johnson remarked that Nevin was a "high achiever," but considered how he had removed himself from working on wards as a clinician and moved into a tutoring role at Midlands Regional General Hospital in Mullingar.

He was also mindful of the pressures placed on medical professionals working 24-hour shifts in busy environments.

He held that the couple did not reach the threshold for a custodial sentence and noted they had paid a huge price.

Judge Johnson went on to rule that the couple could be spared convictions and would receive the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act if Nevin and his fiancée donated €15,000 and €5,000, respectively, to the Merchant Quay drug treatment project as a form of restorative justice.

The case stands adjourned until Friday.

Among the doctor's charges were thefts of prescriptions from University Hospital Galway between July 2021 and July 2023, and from the Midlands Regional General Hospital in Mullingar, from 10 July 2023, until 18 February 2024.

The remaining charges he admitted included three counts of using false prescriptions in pharmacies in Kells, Co Meath, Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath and Tullamore, Co Offaly, on various dates.

Nurse admitted theft of prescription pads

Qualified nurse Rebecca Moylan admitted theft of prescription pads from St James's Hospital in Dublin from 1 September 2023, until November of that year.

She also pleaded guilty to using prescriptions forged by her partner in several pharmacies.

The couple, who plan to marry later this year, used a fictitious patient's name on most of the prescriptions to get the OxyContin, a highly addictive opioid-based medicine.

They were exposed when a pharmacist in Mullingar became suspicious in May last year.

He contacted the hospital in Galway and discovered they had no record of the prescription or the named patient.

Detective Garda Kevin Lennon told prosecutor Cathal Ó Braonáin BL, instructed by State solicitor Matt Shaw, that Moylan, originally from Portumna, Co Galway, passed off 16 prescriptions in two pharmacies in Mullingar.

Dr Daniel Nevin signed them and also included his medical council registration number.

Moylan was also recorded on CCTV claiming to be collecting the medicines on behalf of her mother.

Detective Garda Lennon agreed that he had liaised with the community care pharmacist for counties Westmeath, Longford, Offaly, and Laois, who had alerted chemists to exercise caution regarding Dr Nevin's prescriptions.

There was a similar incident on 8 May last year using an Irish version of Nevin's surname, but a pharmacist refused to dispense the medication, followed by more attempts throughout that month.

The detective obtained a search warrant, went to their home at Greenpark Meadows, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, and uncovered "a large quantity of various medications" and stolen prescription pads.

The couple were interviewed, made admissions and opened up to gardaí about Nevin's addiction.

Taking the stand, the doctor agreed with his defence senior counsel Colm Smyth SC that the "stress and strain of the job precipitated and aggravated" his addiction and that he initially managed to buy opioids online before he sought help to tackle the problem.

The medical council was aware of his struggle, and its health committee engaged with him for two years while he remained under the supervision of a doctor and a psychiatrist.

He explained that after a substantial period of sobriety, he had a relapse, resulting in a prolonged absence from work and took himself "out of the clinician domain" and switched to a teaching role in the hospital, adding that he was passionate about education.

He acknowledged the consequences have been devastating, expressed remorse and explained that he is attending addiction counselling.

Mr Smyth and Dara Foynes SC pleaded with the court for maximum leniency

The court heard that Moylan, while studying to be a nurse, cared for her terminally ill mother.

Ms Foynes asked the judge to note that Moylan acted out of the highest level of compassion and concern for her partner and was trying to manage a situation that was violently out of control, resulting in self-inflicted harm and a fall from grace.

She stressed Moylan got caught up in the slipstream of what happened to her partner.

Moylan has resigned from her job, agreed not to work as a nurse again while Nevin awaits a decision on the future of his medical career.