I'm innocent, jailed P granddad insists

Former pharmacist Samuel Ross Pulman, 70, is sentenced to a prison term of five years. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A 70-year-old pharmacist jailed this week for his role in supplying gangs with pseudoephedrine still insists he is innocent.

Speaking exclusively to the Weekend Herald, Samuel Ross Pulman said he believed he was part of an undercover operation, helping the police to catch P manufacturers by selling the restricted medicine.

The grandfather of six also maintains he made no money from the sales. "I've never taken a cent. I'm not prepared to give in. I want to remain tall, to tell the truth."

But Pulman's explanation was rejected by Justice Edwin Wylie, who said in July that the veteran Rotarian and youth centre owner did not strike him as an honest witness.

Yesterday, in the High Court at Auckland, Justice Wylie sentenced Pulman to five years and eight months in jail.

The judge found that the Crown had not proven that Pulman had made money from selling the cold medicine, but "it is unlikely that Mr Pulman obtained no financial benefit from the transactions".

Pulman sold 1291 boxes of pseudoephedrine, which a conservative estimate by police shows could have been used to make up to 1.3kg of P worth up to $1.3 million.