A pharmacy dispenser accused of stealing human growth hormone valued at £625,000 to aid his body-building hobby told a jury he was a diligent and honest employee.

Naheem Malik, 26, was giving evidence at Bradford Crown Court yesterday on the third day of his trial.

He denies stealing large quantities of the drug Somatropin while employed as an assistant dispenser at Lloyd’s Pharmacy, in Leeds Road, Bradford, after fraudulently claiming it was for patients.

Malik, of Moorside Lane, Laisterdyke, Bradford, dispensed medication, by prescription only, for elderly patients in residential homes.

His job involved placing orders for products with a linked company, AAH Pharmaceuticals, the trial has been told.

The prosecution alleges Malik stole drugs between September 2007 and May 2008 for his own use to help him pursue body-building. The jury has heard that audit trails showed a large amount of the drugs were shown as delivered on the branch computer system and then entered as written off.

But Malik told the court he was an honest and thorough employee.

“I knew how to do my job and I did it well,” he said. He told the jury he put all deliveries of drugs in the lift and sent them upstairs where they were stored at the Managed Care Centre.

Cross-examined by Paul Reid, for the Crown, Malik denied ordering almost £1 million of the growth hormone drug.

Mr Reid accused him of hiding the drug in a downstairs stockroom and removing it from the building into a car.

Earlier, the court heard that Malik answered “no comment” to most questions during a police interview.

He told officers: “I am absolutely not guilty of that offence,” later adding: “I don’t use drugs, I don’t smoke and I don’t drink. That’s all I have got to say.”

The trial continues.