Multimillionaire dentist, 58, who told 13-year-old girl ‘we need to send each other naughty pics’ is banned from the profession for life
- Richard Prais groomed the girl on an app dubbed the ‘paedophile playground’
- The disgraced north London dentist has now been banned from the profession
A multimillionaire dentist who tried to groom a 13-year-old girl has been banned for life from practising – as sickening new details emerged of his activities.
Richard Prais, 58, had spent the last two years and tens of thousands in legal fees fighting against suspension by the General Dental Council – but has now lost and will be banned.
Prais – who is married to a glamorous and successful banker – this week failed to persuade a General Dental Council committee that his offending had been a ‘one-off’ but instead he has been removed from the Dental Register – meaning he must never work as a dentist again.
Prais, who lives in an £8million house in a fashionable north-London suburb, had pleaded guilty in court to the offence of being an ‘adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child’.
But the offence went unreported in the media for almost two years until MailOnline learned about the case and finally brought it into the public domain last month.
Richard Prais, 58, had spent the last two years and tens of thousands in legal fees fighting against suspension by the General Dental Council – but has now lost and will be banned
It comes after the multimillionaire dentist was caught trying to groom a 13-year-old girl (Prais is pictured)
Now disturbing details of his activities have come to light as a result of his failed battle to be allowed to continue to treat patients.
At a public hearing of the General Dentist Council’s Professional Conduct Committee grotesque details of his grooming were revealed.
The committee heard how Prais had groomed the girl online and ‘asked the child to send a message with an image of herself’ to him, to which he replied: ‘you really are young’ and ‘send me naughty pics’.
READ MORE HERE: Multimillionaire dentist who tried to groom a 13-year-old girl is now fighting for the right to continue to treat children as patients
Prais also said in messages ‘that he did not want to be a paedophile.’
The Committee heard that at a later point in the exchange, having identified himself as a dentist, Prais asked: ‘Are you Really 13?’ The girl replied: ‘Yeah why’. And Prais’ response to this exchange was ‘letsgetnaughty’ and ‘we need to send each other naughty pics’.
The grooming lasted over eight days. Prais continued to send explicit messages together with photos of a sexual nature, one of which showed him naked covering his genitals with a hand.
Prais directed her to touch intimate body parts, said he wanted to see her naked and asked her: ‘Would you like to see my c***?’.
Other vile comments included ‘I would love to see your panties too’, ‘Show me your body’, ‘Wanna play with me’, ‘We need to send naughty pics are you up for that’.
During a dawn raid on his luxury home by officers from the Metropolitan Police Online Child Abuse and Sexual Exploitation Team, Prais and his wife Frania had initially refused to open the door to officers, the Committee heard.
The officers arrived at Prais’ home at 5.55am and attempted to gain entry but were refused by Prais and his wife on 2nd February 2021,
At 6.02am, police forensic evidence showed how Prais deleted the Kik app from his phone, which he had been using to communicate with a 13-year-old child, in an apparent attempt to frustrate the police investigation.
Prais, who lives in an £8million house in north London, has spent thousands on legal fees in his bid to win the right to continue to treat children despite his conviction
The Kik app has been dubbed the ‘paedophile playground’ having featured in ‘more than a thousand’ child abuse investigations and subsequent convictions.
The Committee heard that police evidence showed that by the time of his arrest Prais had been using the app to communicate with various people for seven years.
A security guard at the property finally persuaded the couple to open the door to the officers and the disgraced dentist was still holding the mobile phone when he was arrested.
Mr Callum Munday, counsel for the General Dental Council, submitted: ‘Communicating with a child [in this manner] is a form of child grooming and child abuse.’
He added that Prais had been convicted of ‘a serious sexual offence involving a person pertaining to be a 13-year-old girl, whom you attempted to groom for sexual gratification. You sent sexually explicit messages and photos of yourself.’
Mr Munday submitted that there remains a risk of Prais repeating his behaviour ‘given your lack of insight, and that a finding of impairment is required on the grounds of public protection.’
Mr Munday said that Prais had ‘deep seated attitudinal issues’ explaining: ‘You still deny that there was any sexual gratification on your part.’
During his evidence, Prais admitted to speaking to ‘multiple women’ using the controversial app some of whom he believed had ‘lied about their age’ – and he insisted that his online chat ups were just a ‘fantasy’.
It later emerged that Prais had sent messages to her from both his home and his practice in Hampstead, north London
He told the Committee that he has been ‘playing tennis with another dentist’ and ‘learning scriptures’ to help himself avoid reoffending.
He claimed that he does not represent a danger to anyone as he has ‘learned how to control his rational mind’. And he sought to downplay his offence by referring to his conduct as merely ‘icky’ and ‘cringey’.
In his defence, Prais through his counsel Fiona Horlick KC , submitted that the period in which he sent the messages was short. And that despite talking to the girl knowing she was 13, there was no suggestion of meeting in real life
She pointed out that Pras then stopped communicating and did not respond to her again. She submitted that this was all online and no actual harm was caused.
Ms Horlick also submitted that there was ‘no evidence to suggest a widespread sexual interest in children’ and ‘no risk of repetition and that a finding of impairment for protection of the public is not required.’
The GDC Committee written judgement found that Prais in evidence had ‘repeatedly apologised for communications with a child but failed to acknowledge the sexual nature of that communication.’
And although his reflections focused on the challenges he, his family and the family dental practice face, they ‘make very little mention of the potential impact on children of your offending behaviour’.
Prais is married to glamorous banker Frania
The Committee found that Prais had repeatedly stated that he did not believe the person he was communicating with was 13 but said: ‘The Committee noted that this was at odds with your guilty plea at court.’
The GDC committee found ‘evidence of harmful deep-seated and attitudinal problems in that you persistently denied to both your probation officer and the GDC that the sexually explicit messages you sent to a 13-year girl was for sexual gratification.’
They said: ‘You directed your inappropriate and sexually motivated behaviour towards a vulnerable 13-year-old girl….Your sexually motivated behaviour was wholly unacceptable and seriously damaging to the reputation of the profession and to the public’s confidence in the dental profession.’
Prais was told: ‘You have displayed sexualised behaviour towards a child and still refuse to accept what you have done. The Committee was of the view that your failure to recognise the sexual aspect of your behaviour was deep seated and attitudinal, having prevailed from the probation report in 2021 until this day. The Committee considers that this is therefore difficult to remedy. Given the lack of meaningful insight, the Committee cannot be satisfied that the risk of repetition is low. Further without full insight, the Committee is not satisfied that you can have true remorse.’
The GDC Committee concluded that Prais’ ‘behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with you remaining on the register, to allow you to remain on the register unrestricted during the appeal period would be inappropriate with the totality of its findings, particularly the lack of meaningful insight prevalent in this case’.
Prais has twenty-eight days to appeal this decision.
Prais pleaded guilty at Willesden Magistrates’ Court to an ‘adult attempt to engage in sexual communication with a child’ between November 25, 2020 and January 27, 2021, contrary to Section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981.
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