Butcher dentist 'took pleasure at causing pain', leaving patients with broken jaws and septicaemia

A Dutchman dubbed the "butcher dentist" after mauling a series of patients in rural France has been jailed for eight years.

The court in the central French town of Nevers also banned Jacobus van Nierop, 51, from practising dentistry and fined him €10,500 ($11,900), after he tore healthy teeth from patients, leaving injuries such as recurrent abscesses, broken jaws, and septicaemia while practising in the small town of Chateau-Chinon.

Prosecutor Lucile Jaillon-Bru told the court that Von Nierop "took pleasure at causing pain" to his patients, carrying out "useless and painful procedures" to make money on their insurance schemes, AFP reported.

The court heard how locals initially welcomed larger-than-life character Van Nierop to the area, which was lacking medical services.

However by 2011 authorities had begun to investigate his accounting practices, and locals were swapping nightmarish stories about his dentistry.

One 65-year-old woman who went into the dentists to have braces fitted told the court that Van Nierop extracted eight teeth, and she was "gushing blood for 3 days... and had no teeth for a year and a half".

Van Nierop fled to rural Canada, but was extradited to the Netherlands in 2014, and then to France to stand trial.

At the trial Von Nierop claimed he was suffering from "psychological problems", including gender identity issues, and suicidal impulses. One psychiatrist argued that he suffered from a narcissistic disorder which left him unable to judge his actions morally. Assessments were split though as another psychiatrist found that he was "perfectly aware of what he was doing".