Double Acts
The most surprising thing to me about this report from The Telegraph is not that people are cheating the welfare system, but that their accomplices are not charged as well for participating in a 'joint enterprise' to defraud and steal from the public purse.
Because there's no way that Helen Knight wasn't up to her neck in the various scams being perpetrated by her husband, but Alan Knight appears to be the only member of this 'double act' who has gone on trial in court.
Yet surely Mrs Knight is every bit as guilty as her old man.
Conman pretended to be quadriplegic for two years but was caught walking around Tesco
Alan Knight, 47, insisted for two years that he was too ill to stand trial for conning his elderly neighbour out of £40,000, a court hears
Alan Knight in a posed-for picture with his wife Helen Photo: Wales News Service
By Keith Perry - The Telegraph
A fraudster who pretended to be a quadriplegic who would slip into a coma was caught taking shopping trips and holidays with his family.
Alan Knight, 47, insisted for two years that he was too ill to stand trial for conning his elderly neighbour out of £40,000, a court heard.
He was living on benefits having claimed to have suffered a massive neck injury. But police found CCTV footage of him walking around Tesco stores and driving his car back from Dorset.
Knight finally appeared in court on Tuesday and admitted cheating the pensioner, 85, who has dementia and is now being cared for in a home.
Knight was living at home in Swansea after claiming to have snapped his neck falling backwards as he pulled down a garage door. His wife Helen, 33, claimed she had to care for her husband.
But he had been targeting neighbour Ivor Richards’s life savings and shares over a three-year period.
He “systematically” funnelled £41,570 out of the pensioner’s bank account which he used to pay for holidays and to buy a caravan in Dorset, Swansea Crown Court heard.
When prosecutors attempted to bring him to justice, Knight repeatedly claimed to be too ill to stand trial, even having himself hooked up to oxygen.
But the father-of-three was caught on CCTV at the Severn bridge toll on the M4 as he travelled back from the south coast. He was also spotted on film in Tesco stores close to his home and in Dorset after police traced the use of the family’s loyalty club card.
Officers tried “at least twice” to bring him to court but each time he admitted himself to hospital claiming his condition had worsened. The court was told he had “pulled the wool” over his GP’s eyes but he was unable to fool doctors at the hospital. While he was there for observation they spotted him eating, wiping his face and writing.
Knight was told he would stand trial with or without his attendance and finally appeared in court in a wheelchair and neck brace.
He admitted theft and forgery, relating to writing a new will for Mr Richards making himself a beneficiary, and was remanded in custody. He was told he is “likely” to be jailed.
Judge Paul Thomas said: “His appearance in court now is at variance with his appearance in CCTV footage. Aspects of this case in my experience are unique, and a strong message needs to be sent out to anyone who seeks to adopt similar tactics.
“Having seen the CCTV evidence from Tesco and driving the car, I have come to the conclusion he is putting it on. Attempts to make progress have been thwarted by Mr Knight pretending to be ill.
“Although a very accomplished and determined actor, he is in nothing like the condition he claims to be, and the conditions he claims to be suffering from are simply non-existent.
“His illnesses coincide with impending court appearances. I do not believe the symptoms are genuine.
“He has been monitored, despite attempts to maintain the fiction. He was seen wiping his face and writing things down, which are inconsistent with being paraplegic or in a coma.”
Knight is due to be sentenced next month.
