A man from Bradford on Avon has been cleared of any involvement in the most serious fake medicine scam ever seen in the European Union.

Businessman Peter Gillespie, 64, of High Street, Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, was jailed for eight years for his part in an operation to import from China to the UK more than two million doses of counterfeit prescription drugs for conditions including prostate cancer, heart disease and schizophrenia.

Four other men - his brother Ian, 59, of The Green, Marsh Baldon, Oxfordshire; Richard Kemp, 61, of School Lane, Y Waen, Flint, north Wales; Ian Harding, 58, of Lower Westwood, Bradford on Avon and James Quinn, 70, of Virginia Park, Virginia Water, Surrey - were acquitted of all charges.

By mimicking authentic, properly manufactured and tested medicines, Peter Gillespie illegally infiltrated the highly-regulated system designed to protect the public and pharmaceutical industry.

Andrew Marshall, prosecuting, said patients had been "put at risk" by his fraud. "This case is considered to represent the most serious breach of the medicine control regime - it's the most serious breach that has happened in the EU," he told jurors.

.Mick Deats, head of enforcement at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said after the trial that 72,000 packs of counterfeit medicine - with a retail value of GBP4.7 million - penetrated the UK supply chain between December 2006 and May 2007. Some 25,000 of these packs reached pharmacies and were given to patients.

Peter Gillespie was convicted of conspiring to defraud pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists, members of the public and holders of intellectual property rights in pharmaceuticals between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.

He was also found guilty of selling or supplying Casodex and Plavix without a marketing authorisation and of selling or distributing counterfeit Casodex and Plavix along with selling or supplying Zyprexa without a marketing authorisation and of selling or distributing counterfeit Zyprexa between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.

All four of the other defendants were cleared of charges of selling or supplying Casodex and Plavix without a marketing authorisation and of selling or distributing counterfeit Casodex and Plavix.

They were also cleared of conspiring with others to defraud pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists, members of the public and holders of intellectual property rights in pharmaceuticals between January 1 2006 and June 30 2007. Ian Gillespie, Kemp and Harding were also acquitted of selling or supplying Zyprexa without a marketing authorisation and of selling or distributing counterfeit Zyprexa between January 1 2006 and June 30 2007.