DTUK1810

T he Court of Appeal has reduced a triple mur- derer’s compensation to £44,500 after he sued over inad- equate dental care in prison. Michael Steele, serving life for a triple gangland killing, was awarded £66,400, after suffering toothache for nearly seven years. The Home Office appealed against the award made in 2009. The appeal judges reduced his original damages to £25,000 and with interest and £16,000 for Steele’s ‘pecuniary loss’, the total payout comes to £44,500. The court heard how Steele ‘sustained damage to his teeth while playing rugby football’. Steele said in his submis- sion that his pain and suffering was aggravated by the fact that he was locked up for much of the day and had nothing to do other than think about his toothache. The court ruled that the original damages award was out of line with cases of other types by ‘quite a substantial margin’. The Appeal Court heard how Steele’s fillings fell out at Bel- marsh Prison soon after he was given his three life sentences. Sincethen,whilebeingmoved between high security prisons, Steele has suffered ‘persistent severe pain’. Judge Edward Bailey last year ruled the Home Office had been negligent in failing to give him the dental treatment he needed and awarded him £66,400 dam- ages, including £250 for every week of toothache endured. Lady Justice Smith, sitting in the appeal court, called it ‘a bad case involving persistent severe pain over nearly four years, together with more mod- erate pain for two years and some significant deterioration in the general condition of his teeth’. Steele was jailed in 1998 for shooting dead ‘Essex Boys’ Patrick Tate, Anthony Tucker and Craig Rolfe as they sat in a Range Rover. DT Murderer gets £44k in compensation for poor dental care D ental care professionals who fail to pay their an- nual retention fee by the end of July will be removed from the register, warns the General Dental Council. Dental care profession- als (DCPs) who haven’t yet paid their annual retention fee (ARF) to the General Den- tal Council (GDC) are running out of time. Payments must be received on or before 31 July 2010 if they want to remain on the GDC’s register and eligible to work. No payments can be proc- essed after the deadline. All dental care professionals must be registered with the GDC to work in the UK, giving pa- tients reassurance that they are meeting GDC standards. For the third year in a row the fee is £96 for dental nurses, dental technicians, dental thera- pists, dental hygienists, clinical dental technicians and ortho- dontic therapists. The GDC’s head of registra- tion, Gurvinder Soomal, said: ‘‘The GDC has more than 57,000 DCPs on its register and we want to thank those who have already paid this year’s ARF. ‘‘We now want to make sure that every dental care professional who wants to stay on our register under- stands they must pay by 31 July. If you haven’t paid yet please get in touch as soon as possi- ble. If your employer normally pays for you – check they’ve done so again this year. If you lead a team, check whether your colleagues are up to date. Youcanalsoletusknowifyouhave decided to take a career break or not to stay on the register.’’ Any DCPs who fail to make the payment will be removed from the GDC’s register and will no longer be able to work legally in the UK. If they decide to apply to rejoin the register they will have to pay a higher fee of £120. If you have any questions, you can contact the GDC customer advice and information team on 0845 222 4141 or by email information@gdc-uk.org. DT DCPs who fail to pay in time will be removed from the register, warns GDC S mile-on celebrated its 10th anniversary in style aboard the luxury Thames cruiser, the Silver Sturgeon. Friends and colleagues enjoyed a spectacular meal, while being entertained by a Jazz Quartet, on a trip down the Thames. A spokeswoman for Smile- on said: ‘‘The event provided the company the opportunity to say thank you to all those who have helped the busi- ness grow over the past decade to become the UK’s leading healthcare learning provider. ‘‘Those who attended looked back over the journey the com- pany had taken over the last ten years and shared some very special highlights.’’ As the boat sailed along the Thames, partygoers took par in a charity auction of which the proceeds will be split between the three charties nominated by Smile-on’s directors: Cancer Re- search UK, Age Exchange and Three Faiths Forum. The Smile-on spokeswoman added: ‘‘Smile-on offers practi- tioners a variety of courses de- signed to inspire, motivate and encourage clinical excellence in dentistry. The business is already looking forward to the future and hopes for another fruitful ten years of creativity, professional- ism, enterprise, trust and most importantly – education.’’ For more information about Smile-on and its healhcare education programmes please call 020 7400 8989 or email info@smile-on.com DT Smile-on celebrates 10th anniversary A dentist who is alleged to have faked his own death has been arrested in con- nection with a £1.8m fraud. Police have revealed that Neil McClaren, 46, previously known as Emmanouil Pari- sis, was arrested in Peterhead, Scotland. Police said his arrest followed a complaint from the NHS and other financial insti- tutions that money had been wrongly paid out following Mc- Claren’s alleged death last year. In total, three people have been charged with conspiracy to defraud financial institutions in excess of £1.8m. McClaren appeared at Ex- eter Magistrates Court with his wife, Stiliani Theodoropou- lou and sister-in-law Nikoletta Theodoropoulou. Emmanouil Parisis was previously listed as a dental practitioner at St John’s Den- tal Centre in Barnstaple. The court heard that the former den- tist faked his own death so his wife and sister could claim £1.8m in life insurance. Prosecutors claimed Mc- Claren’s death certificate and travel documents were faked so it looked as if he had died while on a trip to Jordan. Neither McClaren nor his sis- ter-in-law applied for bail. It was requested for Stiliani Theodoro- poulou, but was refused. The case has been committed to Exeter Crown Court, where a preliminary hearing took place on Friday 9 July. DT Dentist who faked death arrested Published by Dental Tribune UK Ltd © 2010, Dental Tribune UK Ltd. All rights reserved. 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