Eamonn Patrick Edward McCann
Introduction
Eamonn Patrick Edward McCann is a dentist who qualified from Queen’s University of Belfast in 1982 and practised for more than three decades. In December 2021 a Professional Conduct Committee of the General Dental Council erased him from the dentists register after finding proved a pattern of sexually motivated assaults on two women he employed as dental nurses — one between 1990 and 1994, the other in 2015 — alongside a 2017 police caution for common assault. Unlike most register cases, McCann turned up, gave evidence, denied everything, and lost: the committee preferred the accounts of his accusers and found almost every head of the 39-count charge proved .
Background Information
The first complainant, Witness A, worked for McCann in the early 1990s and described a progression that began with comments about her figure, always when they were alone, and escalated to physical conduct — some of it while he treated patients, her hands occupied assisting him. She told the panel she wore her father’s cardigan to hide her figure and ran straight home after a Christmas incident in the practice cloakroom. The second, Witness B, alleged conduct on dates in September and October 2015. A third witness gave evidence of similar behaviour, and the committee found a similarity across the accounts that it considered supportive rather than coincidental, having excluded collusion or contamination. McCann said he had no recollection of Witness A at all and denied ever having a sexual relationship with, or behaving improperly toward, any member of his staff .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
The charge against McCann ran to 39 heads. In relation to Witness A the committee found proved that he asked how she kept her figure, that on one Christmas he gave her what he called a “long kiss” in the cloakroom saying “I’ve always wanted to give you a Christmas kiss.”, that he repeatedly touched her leg with his hand or fingers under the dental chair while treating a patient, that he intentionally touched her vagina over and under clothing, that he digitally penetrated her, and that he pressed his crotch against her and attempted to penetrate her — all without her consent, all found sexually motivated, the panel finding no explanation for any of it other than pursuit of sexual gratification or a future sexual relationship. Only the first alleged comment, about a holiday, was found not proved, the committee accepting his evidence that whatever was said did not have sexual content .
In relation to Witness B, the panel found proved that on or around 17 September 2015 he pressed his crotch area against her, and that around 1 October 2015 he intentionally touched her leg, her vagina over clothing, and her bottom and lower back — again finding the contact non-consensual, not reasonably believed consensual, inappropriate and sexually motivated. The final proved head was a police caution: on 11 September 2017, at Dungannon Police Station in County Tyrone, McCann accepted a caution for common assault, which he admitted before the committee. The committee treated the caution as reckless contact rather than sexual behaviour and did not found impairment on it — but its misconduct finding on the workplace conduct was total: “a number of allegations were found proved relating to repeated sexually motivated behaviour, towards two female colleagues without their consent, in the workplace” .
The case had run from January 2020, spanning adjournments and amended charges, before the December 2021 determination. McCann’s counsel pointed to the 21-year gap between the two complainants, to testimonials portraying a man of impeccable character who had served his community for 30 years, and to his acceptance of the caution; the committee placed “limited value” on testimonials written before the findings were made. On sanction it found the abuse of employer power toward staff who had to work alone with him, the repetition, and his lack of insight and remorse left erasure as the only proportionate outcome, his misconduct being fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The allegations received press coverage during the proceedings, as his counsel noted when arguing the public interest had already been served. The panel rejected suspension: McCann had directed sexually motivated behaviour at two non-consenting colleagues, some of it in the presence of patients, and had offered no assurance it would not be repeated. It also noted he had not practised as a dentist for over six years and said through his counsel that health issues meant he would never return to dentistry — a submission that cut both ways, since the committee still deemed restriction necessary for the appeal period .
Current Status
McCann was erased from the dentists register with an immediate order of suspension covering the 28-day appeal window, his interim order revoked. The erasure order is recorded by MedicWatch among dentists struck off in 2021, dated 3 December 2021. Unless he appealed — and nothing in the published record shows that he did — his name was removed 28 days after service, ending a 39-year registration with the register’s most severe outcome .
Impact on Their Career/Life
The erasure removes McCann from the profession he entered in 1982 and bars him from lawful practice in the UK. Because the findings are of sexual assaults on employees within the workplace, they sit in the category regulators treat as most damaging to public confidence; his denial of all of them, maintained through a full contested hearing, deprived him of the mitigation that insight usually brings. For the two dental nurses, the determination records conduct that Witness A described as escalating for years — the panel accepted her evidence that the distress had endured long after the conduct ended .