A former IT manager told on Monday how he blew £400 000 (about R4.4 million) on a luxury lifestyle and became a sex-crazed transvestite because of a drug he took to combat the effects of Parkinson’s disease.
Peter Shepherd, 60, was prescribed the drug Cabergoline by his GP in 2001 and had an astonishing personality change that devastated his life.
He became a violent, attention-seeking, sex-addicted gambler with delusions of grandeur and an overwhelming compulsion to spend money he didn’t have.
Shepherd, a former councillor, has spoken out about his experiences to highlight the problems faced by sufferers of the degenerative disease.
He ran up £150 000 in debt on 15 credit cards and lived like a millionaire, spending a fortune on Caribbean cruises and hiring luxury cars such as Bentleys, Porsches and Ferraris. He also travelled the world and hired helicopters to take him on exotic excursions.
“I became obsessed with gambling, spending, sexual excess and various fetishes, he said.
“I suffered from delusions of grandeur, exhibitionism, paranoia and hallucinations and became violent and suicidal.
“I was out day and night at race-courses, betting shops, casinos and brothels. I developed a transvestite tendency and spent tens of thousands of pounds on ladies clothing for myself.
“I knew I was behaving oddly but I was totally driven down these paths and unable to control the compulsions. It went on and on, and I found myself in police stations several times.”
Eventually the fantasy world collapsed and Shepherd ended up at Hull Crown Court in October last year. He lost his £50 000 a year job, his house in Hull and his marriage hit the rocks as well. He admitted six counts of fraud and transferring criminal property.
The court heard how he engineered a scam in 2007 on eBay selling concert tickets for Take That and Donny Osmond that did not exist. Over 11 months 172 people paid a total of £45 718 for tickets they never received.
But lawyers successfully argued that his criminal behaviour was as a direct result of his medication. The judge described it as a wholly unusual case and let him off with a conditional discharge.
Two professors of neurology testified on his behalf that his drugs had left him unable to tell right from wrong.
His wife Deborah, 46, also admitted transferring criminal property and was sentenced to 100 hours unpaid community work.
She was said to be unaware of the situation until shortly before his arrest, and initially claimed she had committed the fraud to protect him.
Shepherd told how he bought luxury cars with personalised number plates, tickets to boxing matches, concerts and Wimbledon, and owned executive boxes at two football clubs. During one week in Las Vegas he blew £10 000 on gambling, hotels and flights. He discovered a link between his compulsions and Cabergoline after searching the internet in 2008 and managed to get a grip on his life when he stopped taking the drug.
Cabergoline is a form of a drug called Dopamine Agent and is also used to increase sex drive.
Dr Kieran Breen, research chief at charity Parkinson s UK, said: “At least 14 percent of people on these medications may experience problems with compulsive behaviours, which appear to subside if the drug is withdrawn. “
Parkinson’s patients who think they may be experiencing compulsive behaviours should speak to their neurologist or nurse, rather than suddenly stopping their medication. - Daily Mail