A DENTAL nurse jailed for stealing £19,000 from her employer has been struck off.

Jenna McKee, 25, took takings over a two-and-a-half year period while working at the Belhaven Dental Surgery in Port Glasgow, pictured.

The General Dental Council (GDC) described her actions as ‘deplorable’ following a public hearing into the case in London on Tuesday.

McKee was sentenced to eight months in prison at Greenock Sheriff Court last November after pleading guilty to embezzlement.

The court heard that on average she pocketed around £600 each month from the William Street firm where she worked.

McKee was caught after her ‘devastated’ boss discovered huge discrepancies between the firm’s takings and what had been banked.

The GDC’s Professional Conduct Committee said that the offence ‘involved a calculated scheme of dishonesty’ and an ‘egregious abuse of the trust placed in her by the dental practice’.

It added: “The committee concluded that Ms McKee’s dishonesty goes to her character and is therefore not easily remediable.

“Indeed, there is no evidence of insight or remediation, there being no engagement at any point from Ms McKee.

“Her offending only ceased when she was caught and there therefore remains a real risk of repetition.

McKee, of Highholm Street in Port Glasgow, took a total of £19,000 between March 2010 and September 2012.

Her boss had described her as a ‘star’ on the company’s website and she had been trusted to cash up and deposit the firm’s takings at a Greenock bank.

But instead, McKee helped herself to some of the cash and on two occasions didn’t bank any money at all.

A meeting was set up at the surgery to confront her and McKee, who had worked at the firm since 2005, confessed to the offence.

She was immediately suspended from her job and police were called.

At the time of sentencing Greenock Sheriff Court heard she had since repaid £10,000 and at the time of sentencing a £9,000 compensation order was imposed.

The GDC concluded: “The committee determined that Ms McKee’s behaviour was unacceptable and that it would be regarded as deplorable by both members of the profession and the patients at the practice, whose payments to the practice she had embezzled.

“Her conduct and her ensuing conviction brought the profession into disrepute and had the capacity to seriously undermine public confidence in the profession and its standards.

“Ms McKee failed to act in a trustworthy way over a substantial period of time and breached a fundamental tenet of the profession.” McKee did not attend the hearing and was not represented, with the committee stating that she had ‘voluntarily absented herself’.

Ms McKee, who has now completed her jail sentence, has been suspended with immediate effect and will be struck off the Dental Care Professional register in October.

She has the right to appeal the decision.