A 56-year-old man attacked a dental nurse and hurled racist abuse at a receptionist because he was unhappy with his treatment before going on to threaten the practice manager to drop the charges.

Mohammed Khan, of Chigwell Road, intimidated the practice manager of the dental practice, “with thinly-veiled threats” in order to try and avoid a trial.

He was also found guilty of beating and racially abusing staff members at Oasis Dental Practice, South Woodford.

At his trial at Romford Magistrates’ Court, the court heard that Khan had visited the dental practice in Glebelands Avenue on January 5 for an appointment.

But the receptionist told the court that when he returned downstairs his “attitude and body language had completely changed”.

“He was complaining that the appointment wasn’t long enough, and that the nurse wasn’t very good,” she said.

“He became very upset when we told him he would have to pay £50 up front for a hygienist appointment. He started swearing at us, saying we were liars.”

She told magistrates that Khan became so irate in front of a patient and other members of staff that he hurled racist abuse at her.

The court heard that she was forced to call the police out of fears for her and her colleague’s safety.

Khan denied this, adding that he had only accused the staff of telling him a “pack of lies” about the treatment.

But an eyewitness who had been waiting for his appointment at the surgery disputed this, saying he had clearly seen and heard Khan racially abuse the receptionist.

He was also found guilty of assaulting a dental nurse by pushing her in the chest, after she had tried to coax him away from the reception area.

The victim told the magistrates: “I have never seen anything like this.

“Nothing like this has happened to me in my 27 years as a dental nurse.”

The receptionist added that Khan had returned to the surgery a few days later with a gift of chocolates.

She told the court: “He came in to apologise and we had a conversation.

“I told him it wasn’t necessary. He said I should still accept it so I took them and went upstairs because I was scared.”

Det Con James Yates of Ilford Police said Khan had been evasive before he agreed to visit the police station voluntarily on January 16, where he was charged in connection with the initial incident.

He added that he found him to be threatening towards him at the station. He said: “I found him to be quite intimidating but I’ve been in the job for 16 years so it obviously didn’t work.”

At the station, Khan was informed that a witness statement had been taken from the practice manager, who was not present at the original event, but liaised with police after.

A day later, Khan arranged for a friend to call the practice and ask to be put through to the manager, despite knowing that his bail conditions prohibited contact with staff.

During this phone call, the manager said Khan threatened to damage her reputation, and the surgery’s, by going to the newspapers if the charges were not dropped.

She said: “It made me feel really intimidated and alone and very nervous. He asked me if I was at the practice whilst we were on the phone.”

Khan was then charged with intimidating a witness on January 23. When he was charged, he said that he “wasn’t going to go through with it”, Det Con Yates told the court.

In his concluding remarks, magistrate Del Hunter said it had been an “horrific” ordeal for staff at the practice.

Since the incident, the surgery has been fitted with CCTV in a measure to boost safety measures for staff and patients.

In his defence of Khan, his lawyer said that Khan suffered from a personality disorder.

Khan will be sentenced on April 18 at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court.