A dentist who won £64,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was cheating the Health Service out of nearly half a million pounds.

David Heppleston, 45, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to one of the worst cases of NHS fraud in history - in which he created 800 'ghost' patients.

He admitted 100 charges totalling £448,021, with the offences carried out over eight-and-a-half years.

In the course of the scam, he appeared on the ITV quiz show and won the cash - telling the audience it would help pay off his mortgage.

The dentist, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, made up 'ghost patients' and also charged the taxpayer for work on real patients which he did not do.

His wife died last year and his eight-year-old son will now be placed in the care of a couple known to Heppleston.

At York Crown Court Judge Paul Hoffman, Recorder of York, told him: "You are guilty of a sophisticated fraud. In my judgment, it was motivated by greed. It's all gone, nothing has been recovered."

Alan Mitcheson, prosecuting, said the scam was discovered through routine checks in June 2005. Nearly all of Heppleston's individual fraudulent claims were below £360. Claims over that amount would not have been approved automatically.

But in total his claims amounted to well over four times the national average for metal and porcelain dentistry.

Mr Mitcheson said: "On his home computer NHS investigators discovered some patient names with an asterisk next to them.

"Heppleston initially denied wrongdoing, but in his second interview admitted the names with an asterisk next to them were ghost patients." The NHS investigated more than £600,000 of possible fraud by Heppleston, although he was only convicted of £450,000 worth.

Continued at The Daily Mail