Angelique Pitcher

Introduction

Angelique Pitcher was a dental nurse registered with the General Dental Council (GDC), registration number 280709, whose recorded qualification was the NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma in the Principles and Practice of Dental Nursing (2018) . On 4 March 2022 a GDC Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) directed that her name be erased from the Dental Care Professionals Register — commonly described as being struck off — and ordered that her registration be suspended immediately . The committee found proved that she had been convicted in Bermuda on 27 July 2010 of two counts of importing a controlled drug, namely cannabis and cannabis resin, for which she received a custodial sentence of three years’ imprisonment, and that she had concealed that conviction by ticking “No” on her signed GDC registration application form in November 2018; it found that concealment misleading, lacking in integrity and dishonest .

Background Information

Pitcher applied for registration with the GDC as a dental care professional in November 2018; her signed declaration form was dated 15 November 2018 and was received by the GDC on 19 November 2018 . Eight years before that application, on 27 July 2010, she had been convicted in Bermuda of two counts of importing a controlled drug — cannabis and cannabis resin — and sentenced to three years in prison; the GDC’s evidence came from the ACRO Criminal Records Office, including an Interpol document recording the two offences and the sentence . Beyond what is recorded in the determination and the regulator’s published outcome, little biographical detail is available: the public pages record no date of birth, no training history beyond her 2018 dental nursing diploma, and no employment history .

Pitcher also had a separate GDC fitness to practise history. At a substantive PCC hearing in October 2020 it was found proved that she had failed to co-operate with the GDC’s investigation into her fitness to practise, and her registration was suspended for four months; that suspension was extended for twelve months at a review in March 2021 and for a further twelve months at a review hearing on 2 March 2022 .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings in this section come from a General Dental Council Professional Conduct Committee determination, which decided the heads of charge on the balance of probabilities. Head of charge 1 concerned a criminal conviction: the committee found proved that Pitcher was convicted in Bermuda on 27 July 2010 of two counts of importing a controlled drug and received a three-year custodial sentence, relying on ACRO and Interpol documents — it noted it had not seen a certificate of conviction but found that evidence credible, reliable and consistent with Pitcher’s own emails. The dishonesty, integrity and misleading-conduct findings (head of charge 3) are regulatory findings about her November 2018 registration application, not separate criminal proceedings. She did not attend or was not represented at the hearing; the committee expressly reminded itself that her absence added nothing to the GDC’s case and was not to be taken as an indication of guilt.

The case was heard remotely over 3–4 March 2022, Pitcher not attending and not being represented. The committee was satisfied that notice of the hearing — dated 21 January 2022, sent by Special Delivery to her registered address and by secure email — had been served in accordance with Rules 13 and 65 of the GDC (Fitness to Practise) Rules 2006, and it proceeded in her absence under Rule 54, applying R v Jones (Anthony) [2002] UKHL 5 and GMC v Adeogba & Visvardis [2016] EWCA Civ 162 . It noted Pitcher’s email of 21 August 2020 stating she “will not be attending any hearing in regards to this matter as I made it very clear to the GDC via email that I will not be renewing my GDC registration”, and a further email sent at 00:59 on 3 March 2022 citing the “major time difference” from her location outside the UK; during its deliberations it received one more email in which she said she was “more than willing for the committee to proceed with out me and send me an email with the outcome” .

The charge had three heads. First, that she was convicted in Bermuda on 27 July 2010 of two counts of importing a controlled drug, cannabis and cannabis resin, for which she received a custodial sentence of three years’ imprisonment. Secondly, that in her signed application form received by the GDC on 19 November 2018, in response to the question “Have you been convicted of a criminal offence and/or cautioned and/or are you currently subject to any police investigations which might lead to a conviction or a caution in the UK or any other country?”, she ticked the box “No”. Thirdly, that her conduct in doing so was misleading, lacking integrity and dishonest .

All three heads were found proved. On the conviction, the committee accepted the ACRO and Interpol evidence, noting it was consistent with Pitcher’s own email of 21 August 2020 in which she wrote “I did have a criminal record back in 2009…”, and with the original complaint to the GDC dated 2 February 2019, which recorded that she “was arrested in Bermuda in 2009 for drug possession she was also sentence to prison (sic)” . On the application form, the committee had sight of the signed declaration dated 15 November 2018 showing the “No” box ticked, and noted that Pitcher did not dispute it, having written “…on the application it asked for criminal charges, in which I checked no…” . On dishonesty, applying the test in Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd t/a Crockfords [2017] UKSC 67, the committee considered her explanation that she checked “no” “due to my understanding that my past didn’t need to be mentioned as I had no criminal record in the uk”, but rejected it: the form was clear that it covered convictions in other countries as well as the UK, it offered a separate sheet for details of any convictions, it warned that false statements may give rise to fitness to practise proceedings, and the severity of the offending — a three-year custodial sentence — made it more likely than not that she knew she needed to declare it. Her conduct would be viewed as dishonest by the objective standards of ordinary and decent people . The integrity finding drew on Wingate and Evans v Solicitors Regulation Authority [2018] EWCA Civ 366 and Standard 1.3 of the GDC’s “Standards for the Dental Team” .

The committee went on to find that the facts amounted to misconduct — a serious departure from, and clear breach of, Standards 1.3 (be honest and act with integrity) and 9.3 (inform the GDC if you are subject to criminal proceedings anywhere in the world) — and that her fitness to practise was currently impaired by reason of both her conviction and her misconduct. It found she had shown no insight, no remediation, no CPD and no reflection; that in her August 2020 emails she had minimised the conviction — “I have never committed any offence in the UK. I did everything correct. I never worked without my registration…” — and was more focused on finding out how the matters came to the GDC’s attention; and that there was a high risk of repetition of her dishonest behaviour in a more general sense .

On sanction, the committee concluded there were no mitigating factors. The aggravating factors were dishonesty; deliberate misconduct; blatant or wilful disregard of the role of the GDC and the systems regulating the profession; previous disciplinary findings; and lack of insight. A reprimand, a conditions of practice order and suspension were each found inadequate to mark the seriousness of the conduct; applying paragraph 7.34 of the Practice Committee Guidance — serious departures from professional standards, serious dishonesty particularly where covered up, and a persistent lack of insight — it concluded that her behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with being a dental professional and directed erasure from the Dental Care Professionals Register. It also imposed an immediate order of suspension under section 36U of the Dentists Act 1984 (as amended), so that her registration was suspended from the date of the decision .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The immediate consequence was regulatory: erasure from the Dental Care Professionals Register, tempered by an immediate suspension order that kept her off the register from the date of the decision while the erasure took effect . Neither the determination nor the practitioner profile records any press coverage, public statements or online campaigns connected with the case; both confine themselves to the regulator’s findings and links to the underlying decision . MedicWatch, which describes itself as an independent record service aggregating publicly published decisions of UK healthcare regulators, records the outcome on its profile page as erasure — struck off the register — decided 4 March 2022 by the Dental Professionals Hearings Service .

Current Status

Pitcher’s most recent recorded outcome is erasure — struck off the register — decided on 4 March 2022, with the outcome recorded as “Erased with immediate suspension” . The committee explained that unless she exercised her right of appeal, the substantive order of erasure would come into effect 28 days from the date on which notice of the decision was deemed to have been served on her, and that if she appealed, the immediate order for suspension would remain in place until the resolution of any appeal . Readers are directed to check the official General Dental Council register for her current registration status . Her profile page carries a “registration status not yet verified” notice rather than a live confirmation of her position on the register .

Impact on Their Career/Life

The erasure removed Pitcher’s name from the Dental Care Professionals Register, ending her status as a GDC-registered dental nurse. The committee’s central finding was that her behaviour — a serious drug-importing conviction concealed by a dishonest declaration on her registration application — was fundamentally incompatible with being a dental professional, and that because dishonesty is an attitudinal failing that is difficult to remediate, and she had shown none, there was a high risk of repetition of her dishonest behaviour in a more general sense . The determination gives no information about her subsequent employment or personal circumstances, and the profile records no later regulatory decisions . Her case remains part of MedicWatch’s browsable record of dental erasures, listed under the outcome “struck off the register” with the decision date of 4 March 2022 .

Sources

• *General Dental Council, Dental Professionals Hearings Service, “Professional Conduct Committee, March 2022 — PITCHER, Angelique, Registration No: 280709” (Outcome: Erased with immediate suspension) — source
• *MedicWatch, “Angelique Pitcher — Struck off the register | General Dental Council 280709 | MedicWatch” — source