Jewish dentist struck off after allegedly telling girl, 13, to send 'naughty pictures'

A Jewish dentist has been struck off after he allegedly tried to groom a 13-year-old girl for “sexual gratification”. A General Dental Council (GDC) committee last week heard claims that Richard Prais, 58, told the girl in online exchanges to “show me your body”, saying, “we need to send naughty pics are you up for that [sic]”. Prais, who lives in an £8 million house in north London, also reportedly sent the girl a picture of himself naked in which he was covering his genitals with a hand. The committee heard that having identified himself as a dentist, Prais asked: “Are you really 13?”, to which the girl replied: “Yeah why”. The exchanges lasted over eight days, during which time Prais allegedly directed her to touch intimate body parts and said he wanted to see her naked. A GDC report on the hearing said Prais had pleaded guilty in court two years ago to having “engaged in sexual communication with a child” and had been placed on sex offenders’ register for seven years. The case went unreported until recently, however. Paris spent two years fighting an expensive legal battle against suspension but has now lost and will be banned from the profession. The committee also heard how Prais was arrested in a dawn raid on his 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 GDC report said. During the raid Prais reportedly deleted an app from his phone which he had been using to communicate with the child. Giving evidence to the committee, Prais said he deeply regretted what he had done and accepted that he was guilty of the offence. He said he was a committed dentist, and that at the time the offence was committed there were considerable stresses in his life and he was mindlessly talking to women on an online app. The 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.” The GDC Committee concluded that Prais' “behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with you remaining on the register”. Prais has 28 days to appeal this decision.

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