Dentist’s Ex-Wife Admits Blackmail After False Drinking-on-the-Job Report to Regulator

Edited by Dentaltown staff

A British dentist spent nine months under investigation by his regulator over claims that he was drinking between patients. The person who reported him was his ex-wife, and she has now pleaded guilty to blackmail.

Dina Williamson, 39, of Bournemouth, England, pleaded guilty to one count of blackmail at Bournemouth Crown Court. She received a three-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and a five-year restraining order, according to The Telegraph. Her ex-husband, Ben Williamson, has been a dentist for 16 years.

Prosecutor Lydia Stephens told the court the couple met in 2019, married in 2022, and divorced in 2024. In March 2025, Dina Williamson raised the idea of going to the General Dental Council, the U.K.’s dental regulator, unless she got more money from the divorce settlement. By April, he had blocked her and told her to communicate through his solicitors.

Her campaign didn’t stop at private messages. She posted on his private practice’s Facebook page that some of its male dental surgeons were unfaithful to their wives. In May 2025, she messaged him that she couldn’t pay her rent and felt she had no option but to go to the GDC, the court heard.

On May 27, 2025, she followed through and told the regulator he had been drinking at work. The GDC was obligated to investigate. The case ran until February 2026, when the council closed it with no further action.

In his victim impact statement, Ben Williamson said the GDC was satisfied the accusation was false. He also said the threat of a fitness-to-practise case had been distressing and could have threatened his career. He reported his ex-wife to police. According to The Telegraph, she at first denied trying to blackmail him, until she was shown the screenshots and messages she had sent.

Defense counsel Lucy Conroy told the court her client had suffered a mental health crisis after the relationship ended and acted out of desperation. The court heard she had no previous convictions.

Judge Jonathan Fuller said Williamson had become embittered over what she saw as unfair treatment in the divorce and had made “salacious and vexatious allegations” to the GDC to damage her ex-husband’s reputation. Whatever her state of mind, the judge said, threatening to harm him unless he paid her was blackmail.

Sources:
The Telegraph, “Dentist’s ex-wife falsely accused him of drinking at work to extort money,” Oct. 13, 2026: telegraph.co.uk/dentists-ex-wife-falsely-accused
The Sun, “‘Embittered’ ex-wife tried to destroy dentist husband’s career with ‘salacious’ lies about him boozing at work,” Oct. 13, 2026: thesun.co.uk/ex-wife-malicious-lies