Bogus dentist jailed for three years

An imposter dentist who used a bogus qualification to earn £230,000 in hospitals in Wolverhampton and around the country has been jailed for three years by a judge, who described her as "evasive and manipulative".

Vinisha Sharma, aged 37, of Willenhall, used the fake Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from India to work in seven NHS trusts over a nine-year period.

Sharma had no qualifications after dropping out of a five-year dentistry course in London after four years in the 1990s, but began her eight-month stint at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, in 2000.

Sharma, of Honeybourne Way, was reported to the regulator after allegedly extracting the wrong teeth from a child while while working in Burton upon Trent. The allegation was never proven.

She admitted seven charges of fraud and forgery, but later tried to change her plea to not guilty and still maintains her innocence, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

Judge Amjad Nawaz told former Wolverhampton Girls High School pupil Sharma everything she had done was "pre-meditated and deliberate."

He said the public's trust in those who were supposed to be monitoring Sharma would "take a beating" after details of the case were revealed.

The judge said Sharma, had shown herself to be "evasive and manipulative" by her efforts to change her pleas even after admitting the offences.

The court was told that the institute in India where she claimed to have earned her qualification had no record of her. She maintained that she was the victim of a "corrupt system" in India.

Her barrister, Mr Colin Aylott, said: "She has lost everything. She had financial independence and a career and she recognises that there's no prospect that she will ever be able to work in dentistry again."

Neil Cox, from the NHS Counter Fraud Service, said: "She has consistently tried to avoid this day."

A proceeds of crime hearing will now take place when prosecutors will try to claw back some of the money she fraudulently earned.