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Man fakes coma with wife's help to avoid trial, now both jailed
Highlights
A man in Britain faked being in a coma for two years to avoid a fraud trial. He was today jailed along with his wife for trying to con the courts in an \"extreme\" manner.
A man in Britain faked being in a coma for two years to avoid a fraud trial. He was today jailed along with his wife for trying to con the courts in an "extreme" manner.
Alan Knight, 48, and wife Helen, 34, of Sketty, had admitted perverting the course of justice. Alan, who was jailed in November 2014 on fraud and forgery charges, will serve another 14 months on top of his current prison term.
Helen was jailed for 10 months at Swansea Crown Court, the BBC reported.
Judge Huw Davies told Knight - appearing via videolink from prison - and his wife they had both committed an "extreme" example of intending to pervert the course of justice.
He said: "It resulted in significant delay in bringing the offender to justice."
He said this added to the distress of those facing giving evidence as Knight's trial was delayed time and time again over a period of two years.
The judge called Knight's deception calculated and told his wife: "All in all your behaviour was unscrupulous and selfish."
The court was told by the judge that couple came up with their elaborate plan to feign a "catastrophic" illness to try to stop the husband's trial for theft, fraud and forgery. He had been accused of taking 40,000 pounds of the life savings of his elderly neighbour, who had dementia.
Every time someone in authority visited Knight, he pretended he was paraplegic and often in a coma. He admitted himself to hospital for a total of 10 weeks to avoid the trial and convinced some doctors about his mystery illness.
Numerous tests were carried out but they all concluded he had nothing physically wrong with him.
Meanwhile, his wife wrote to the prime minister, the deputy prime minister and her local MP, telling them her husband was being forced to go to court even though he was a paraplegic and in a permanent vegetative state. Her local MP even took on her case, writing to Knight's solicitors.
Eventually their lies were exposed after police found CCTV and picture evidence from their computer. The photographs showed them on holiday, on day trips to places like Legoland and at a friend's wedding.
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