A National Health Service dentist who admitted fiddling about £85,000 by claiming he had treated patients who had not been to see him, had died or did not even exist has had his sentence slashed by top judges.

Daljit Jabbal, 57, of Quaker Lane, Hightown, Liversedge, Yorkshire, turned himself in to care trust bosses saying he had been depressed when he made the bogus claims and wanted to “make a clean breast of it”.

Jabbal, who worked at a dental surgery in Killinghall Road, Bradford, admitted false accounting at Bradford Crown Court and was sentenced to serve two years in jail in March.

Yesterday, his lawyers argued at the Court of Criminal Appeal in London that the length of the sentence was overly severe.

Mr Justice Maddison, sitting with Mr Justice Holroyde, told the court Jabbal made the false claims as “units of dental activity” (UDA) from Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust over two and a half years until he confessed in November 2008.

“He said this had been going on for a while and he wanted to make a clean breast of it,” the judge said. “He said he had fallen behind on his UDA targets for health reasons.”

The judge said the married father of three claimed for treatment on “patients who had not visited his practice at all, patients who were deceased and patients who didn’t exist at all”.

“He accepted his career was over under what he felt were shameful circumstances,” the judge added.

Jabbar’s lawyers appeared at the appeal court to claim his punishment was “manifestly excessive” because it failed to reflect sentencing guidelines, his previous good character, his remorse and that he turned himself in and paid all the money back.

Cutting the sentence to one of 16 months’ jail, Mr Justice Maddison said these were “strong mitigating factors” attached to the case.

“The fact that he might well have got away with it but chose not to do so because he could not live with himself any longer is significantly to his advantage,” the judge concluded.