A dentist who invented patients and claimed for work he hadn’t done to swindle the NHS out of £85,000 has been jailed for two years.

Daljut Jabbal, 56, bowed his head at Bradford Crown Court as the judge said it was “an unfortunate and tragic case”.

Jabbal, of Quaker Lane, Hightown, Liversedge, defrauded the NHS over two and a half years from his practice on Killinghall Road, Laisterdyke, Bradford.

The court heard yesterday his career was in ruins after he had dedicated the whole of his working life to NHS dentistry.

Prosecutor Adam Birkby said Jabbal confessed to his dental nurse in November, 2008 that he had fiddled the books.

Jabbal’s contract was worth £112,000 in the year 2007-8 and he made an annual pre-tax profit of £50,000. He was paid for Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) but ill health and marital problems put him under pressure to maintain contractual targets.

He claimed for fictitious patients and those that did not turn up. He also upped his workload by adding invented work for fillings and dentures when patients came for a routine check-up and polish.

Jabbal’s barrister, Abdullah Al-Yunusi, said he was forced to take time off because of back surgery and cataract operations.

Depression because of marital difficulties also meant he fell behind with his workload.

When he could not meet his Primary Care Trust targets, Jabbal foolishly turned to fraud but realised it could not continue.

Jabbal, who pleaded guilty to false accounting, had re-paid NHS Bradford and Airedale in full. The father-of-three had voluntarily de-registered as a dentist to avoid being struck off. He was deeply ashamed of plundering the public purse.

Mr Al-Yunusi said Jabbal’s lifestyle and income had been fairly modest. Jabbal would never again be able to work as a dentist or within the NHS.

“He is a man who has lost everything,” said Mr Al-Yunisi.

The judge, Recorder Sandra Keen, said she accepted Jabbal had been a very highly principled NHS dentist.

But her public duty demanded he be sent immediately to jail.

After the case, Alan Stewart, North and Yorkshire Operational Fraud Manager with the NHS Counter Fraud Service, said: “The public rightly expects a dentist, and all who work in health care, to be trustworthy.

“The NHS Counter Fraud Service will thoroughly investigate all suspicions of fraud against the NHS and, wherever appropriate, will push for prosecution and the strong sanctions.”