The man engineered the fraud to avoid being jailed for theft, was exposed when he was filmed walking around

Oct 22, 2014 13:19 GMT  ·  By

Some people would do just about anything to avoid being put behind bars. Needless to say, the best thing anyone can do to make sure they never end up in prison is not do anything illegal to begin with.

Still, it appears that there are some folks in this world who don't really like to run with the crowd. On the contrary, they turn to all sorts of tricks and scams to avoid being jailed. 47-year-old Alan Knight is one of these rebellious souls.

In a nutshell, it appears that this man, who now lives in the city of Swansea in South Wales, UK, pretended to be quadriplegic, sometimes even comatose, for 2 years. He did so to escape being trialed for theft.

How this entire affair started

Apparently, it was several years ago that Alan Knight stole as much as ₤40,000 (approximately €50,570 / $64,600) from one of his neighbors. The man that he scammed was not just an elderly, but also an Alzheimer's disease patient.

Simply put, 47-year-old Alan Knight didn't have any trouble convincing him to hand his money over to him. It was when the police figured out what was happening that things got a wee more complicated that the man expected them to.

It is understood that, looking to avoid being dragged to court and jailed, Alan Knight pretended that, following an incident involving a garage door falling right on his back, he was left in a very poor health condition.

Specifically, the man claimed to be quadriplegic, and even went as far as to argue that, because of the severity of his injuries, he regularly entered a comatose state. To make his story more credible, he even checked himself into a hospital a few times.

A cat will always let itself out of the bag

According to Daily Mail, 47-year-old Alan Knight was exposed as a fraud after the police managed to obtain supermarket footage showing him walking around with his wife, shopping for groceries. Soon enough, he was taken into custody.

This past Tuesday, the man got to have a chat with a judge at the Swansea Crown Court. Faced with the evidence against him, he was left with no choice but plead guilty to as many as 19 counts of theft, fraud, and forgery, information shared with the public says.

Should things go according to plan, the judge in charge of handling this case will deliver their sentence this coming November 7. All things considered, chances are 47-year-old Alan Knight will be made to spend some time behind bars.

“Although a very accomplished and determined actor, he is nothing like in the condition he claims to be, and the conditions he claims to be suffering from are simply non existent,” the judge presiding over this case told the press in an interview.

“In my entire career this is the most calculated, long-term deception of a vulnerable, elderly neighbor I have ever seen. He had constantly avoided court for two years, costing police, the NHS [National Health Service] and the court system thousands of pounds,” added Detective Constable Harry Paul.

Photo shows Alan Knight strolling around a supermarket accompanied by his wife
Photo shows Alan Knight strolling around a supermarket accompanied by his wife

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Man pretends to be a quadriplegic to avoid jail
Photo shows Alan Knight strolling around a supermarket accompanied by his wife
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