A dentist was jailed today after claiming thousands of pounds for fictitious and dead patients.

Scott Khadun showed no emotion in the dock after being told that his creation of dozens of "ghost" claims had betrayed the trust of the Dental Practice Board, which makes payments to more than 22,000 dentists.

Khadhun was jailed for 15 months today and landed with a bill for more than £32,000.

Judge Michael Challinor told the Worcestershire dentist that he had had no need to resort to fraud upon the NHS in order to live "in some style".

Khadun, who earned £120,000 a year, was convicted in October of 26 counts of false accounting after a trial at Wolverhampton crown court, sitting in Brierley Hill, Dudley.

The 30-year-old, whose partner wept in the public gallery as sentence was passed, protested his innocence during the month-long trial, blaming staff at his surgery in Dudley Road, Tipton, West Midlands, for form-filling mistakes.

But the judge told him: "The offences persisted for seven to 12 months. Had you not been detected, you would have continued to defraud the board. The fraud was persistent, calculated and blatant."

While condemning Khadun's attempt to create a cloud of suspicion around junior staff as deeply unpleasant, the judge acknowledged that the case had ruined the dentist's career.

"I recognise that, personally, this case is a complete shipwreck for you," the judge said.

Rachel Brand, QC, defending, said her client - who was given 12 months to pay compensation of £12,062 and prosecution costs of £20,367 - had put two houses up for sale.

The QC added: "He's quite convinced that, having been convicted of 26 charges of dishonesty, there's no doubt that he will be struck off. He has, therefore, thrown away a career that he trained and worked so hard to accomplish."

Ms Brand added that the crimes had been committed during a time when Khadun had heavy financial commitments, paying his partner's child's school fees and his parents' mortgage.

The NHS said the defendant had submitted more than 100 false claims to the Dental Practice Board, adding expensive treatments to those he had carried out on patients.

He is also known to have submitted claims for individuals that he had never seen and others that had died years before.

The NHS counter fraud service said its dental fraud team and West Midlands police had investigated the case after discrepancies were spotted.

Interviews with patients revealed that they had not received some of the treatments that were claimed for, and document examination uncovered further claims where names or addresses had been altered, apparently after being signed by patients.

Speaking after the case, Jim Gee, chief executive of the NHS counter fraud service, said: "This was a deliberate, calculated and cynical attempt to take large amounts of public money for personal gain.

"Scott Khadun paid no heed to the fact that the lifestyle he coveted was being paid for by money that should have been used for patient care.

"Mr Khadun will be referred to the General Dental Council for possible disciplinary action and we will be looking to recover every penny he stole."

Detective Constable Ian King, of West Midlands police, said the sentence should act as a warning to others tempted to defraud the NHS.

"It's a fair sentence for the offences and hopefully it will act as a deterrent," he said.