Conman faked a coma to dodge justice

Alan Knight, a 48-year-old from Swansea, will have his caravan sold to pay back some of the money he stole from an elderly neighbour. Bizarrely, Knight initially dodged justice for the crime by faking a coma and pretending to be ill for two years, so he wouldn't have to face the music.

The Daily Mail reported that he had scammed £41,500 from his 86-year-old neighbour, and to evade justice, he and his wife Helen came up with the horrible plan of pretending he had been left in a vegetative coma when he was hit on the head with a garage door.

He fooled hospital staff - spending ten weeks in hospital faking the coma. When he returned home, Helen even invited a local paper in to take photos of him in bed with an oxygen mask.
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According to The Mirror, he was eventually caught by his Tesco Clubcard. The police identified the card and when it was used, they accessed CCTV footage and saw Alan walking around the stores. Further investigation unearthed several photos - including one at a wedding, one at Legoland and one in a pub.

Once the game was up, he was called to Swansea Crown Court. He had already been found guilty of stealing from his neighbour in his absence, and received a four and a half year jail sentence. When he appeared in court he was given an additional 14 months for faking the coma, and sent to jail. His wife was jailed for 10 months for perverting the course of justice.

Now, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, he has been ordered to sell his only asset - the caravan - to repay some of the money he stole.

Fakers

It's incredible the lengths some people will go to in order to avoid jail. In June last year a man in Manchester was sentenced to 19 months for running a shish bar with no working smoke alarm and barrels of diesel blocking the only way out. He didn't show up for the court case, however, as he travelled to Pakistan, and sent the court fake documents claiming he had Ebola.

While faking a coma or Ebola is not something prosecutors often come across, there have been plenty of people who faked their own death. Last month a woman from South Carolina pretended to be her own mother, and took a fake death certificate to the county clerk in order to avoid going to jail for drink driving. The clerk didn't believe her for a second, and called police.

In 2012 a banker from Georgia faked his own death after being caught stealing $21 million. He left suicide notes admitting the theft, and then disappeared. He changed his appearance, and name, but was finally caught when stopped by a traffic officer in 2013, and jailed the following year

In the same year a psychologist from West London faked his own death to escape justice for stealing £43,000 in benefits. He was worried that the fraud had been uncovered, so faked his death when on holiday in Moscow, and fled to Thailand. His wife returned to the UK with a fake death certificate and an urn she claimed contained his ashes. He was tracked to an airport - where he was living rough - and jailed for 32 months.