Yahoo! News
By: JILL LAWLESS
In this image made available by South Wales Police shows a video image Alan Knight,of Swansea south Wales, …
LONDON (AP) — He might have got away with it if it hadn't been for his supermarket loyalty card.
A British
fraudster who pretended to be quadriplegic and sometimes comatose for
two years to avoid prosecution has been convicted after police caught
him on camera driving and strolling around supermarkets.
Alan
Knight of Swansea, Wales, stole more than 40,000 pounds ($64,000) from
the bank account of an elderly neighbor with Alzheimer's disease,
prosecutors said.
When police
began investigating, the 47-year-old Knight claimed to be quadriplegic
and so sick he sometimes fell into a coma. He checked himself into a
hospital to avoid court appearances, saying he was having seizures.
The
South Wales Evening Post reported Wednesday that the suspect's wife,
Helen Knight, had written to the newspaper saying her husband had
obtained a doctor's letter certifying he was "quadriplegic and in a
comatose condition, bed-bound at home" after a neck injury.
"We've been through absolute hell and we're still going through hell," she wrote, according to the newspaper.
Knight's
deceit was uncovered when police tracked the use of his supermarket
card, and produced surveillance camera footage of him walking and
driving.
Warned that the trial
would go ahead whether he was present or not, Knight arrived at Swansea
Crown Court Tuesday in a wheelchair and neck brace. Faced with the
video evidence, he pleaded guilty to 19 counts of forgery, fraud and
theft. His wife has not been charged with any offense.
Judge
Paul Thomas said Knight was "a very accomplished and determined actor
... and the conditions he claims to be suffering from are simply
nonexistent."
"His illnesses
coincide with impending court appearances. I do not believe the symptoms
are genuine," the judge was quoted as saying by the South Wales Evening
Post.
Knight is due to be sentenced Nov. 7.
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