From our Director: "Why do we always have to hear that these people are "latent bipolars" whose illness was exacerbated by the antidepressants? Can't anyone admit that since antidepressants can cause mania, psychosis, abnormal thinking, hostility, etc. {and this is all listed in the insert} that the antidepressant caused the mayhem. It doesn't take a rocket scientist's analysis to come to this conclusion. It only requires commonsense."

A MODERN-day pirate who sailed to Tasmania aboard a $350,000 luxury yacht that he had stolen has been jailed for at least nine months.

David James Appleby, 41, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of theft and five firearms offences. The thefts relate to about $680,000 of property stolen over almost 11 years.

Appleby's booty from the spree included a $42,000 Mazda MX6 car stolen in 1994, driven for 1 1/2 days and then stored in a factory, a $25,000 caravan, a $63,000 cruise boat and trailer, a $45,000 Bobcat and $70,000 Land Rover Discovery.

The spree culminated in Appleby, of Patterson Lakes, stealing the 13.4m yacht Premier Cru from Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron on January 31, 2005.

The County Court was told Appleby had been suffering from bipolar disorder for eight or nine years but that it was misdiagnosed as depression. Anti-depressant medication only exacerbated his condition, the court heard.

Judge Leo Hart said yesterday he accepted Appleby's actions were impulsive and that he was seriously psychiatrically disturbed when he stole the yacht.

Judge Hart said that, given the medical and psychiatric evidence, he accepted it was more likely Appleby's crimes were influenced by his mental condition than by greed.

Appleby, an experienced sailor, got in an inflatable dinghy with his dog and paddled out to the luxury yacht, hot-wiring it and motoring out into Bass Strait.

He said in his police interview that it was a spur-of-the-moment decision when he was depressed and contemplating suicide.

About 12 hours into the voyage, Appleby ran out of fuel. He later turned himself in to police.