French court sentences `dentist of horror` to 8 years in jail

Paris: A French court on Tuesday sentenced a Dutch dentist to eight years in jail for deliberately mangling his patients` mouths in a case which saw him dubbed "the dentist of horror".

Jacobus van Nierop, 51, went on trial in March for ripping out healthy teeth and leaving dozens of patients with injuries including broken jaws, recurrent abscesses and septicaemia in the small central town of Chateau-Chinon.

The court in the central town of Nevers also banned him from practising as a dentist and fined him 10,500 euros ($11,900).

During the trial, prosecutor Lucile Jaillon-Bru said Van Nierop had carried out "useless and painful procedures" on about 100 patients with the aim of having them reimbursed by medical insurance schemes.

She said he took "pleasure at causing pain" to his patients.