HINDHEAD dentist Mark Walewski was handed a three-year jail sentence at Guildford Crown Court yesterday for defrauding the NHS out of more than £222,000.

Walewski, 68, who lives in Churt and ran the New Dental Surgery in Hindhead, admitted four counts of fraud at a previous hearing at Guildford Crown Court.

He committed the fraud between 2006 and 2012 by charging private patients at his practice for treatment and then billing the NHS for the same work.

More than 6,000 fraudulent claims were made and the total loss to the NHS was £222,703.34.

An anonymous tip-off to NHS Protect, the body founded to tackle crime across the health service, triggered an in-depth investigation that led to Walewski being arrested in September 2012 by Surrey Police and his home and surgery being raided.

Investigators found the dentist had made a claim for the examination of a 17-day-old baby.

Jailing Walewski, Judge Stephen Climie said: “This involved a gross abuse of the position of trust that you held. There was an associated risk as patients’ records do not now reflect the truth of treatment. This casts a shadow over your profession as a whole.”

Sue Frith, managing director of NHS Protect, said: "Walewski abused his position of trust so that he could enjoy a lifestyle way beyond that of the average taxpayer.”