Prison dentist cleared of assault

A former prison dentist has been cleared of assaulting inmates by pulling out healthy teeth to make money out of the NHS.

A jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court took just under two hours to find Vernon Flackett not guilty of six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and four of obtaining money by deception.

The 66-year-old was accused of unnecessarily removing the teeth of inmates at Stafford jail and then claiming they were surgical extractions so he could get extra cash from the NHS.

Outside court on Thursday Mr Flackett, of Sneyd Avenue, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, said he was delighted to have been cleared, but had no plans to return to his practice.

Clerical errors

Mr Flackett, who qualified as a dentist in 1964, described the ordeal of the seven-day trial as "dreadful".

"It has been very tough indeed," he said.

The jury was told how one prisoner had 11 of his teeth removed while another lost every tooth in his mouth.

But defence counsel Rachel Brand QC maintained that Mr Flackett "never once pulled out a tooth unless it was necessary" and that clerical errors were to blame for any healthy teeth that were extracted by mistake.

One charge of assault and three of obtaining money by deception were dropped earlier in the trial on the orders of Judge Nicholas Mitchell.