Jailed coma-conman’s caravan to be sold off
THE Crown Prosecution Service is to sell off a holiday caravan they believe “coma conman” Alan Knight bought with money he stole from his 86-year-old dementiasuffering neighbour.
Knight, 48, tried to avoid justice for swindling his neighbour Ivor Richards of his life savings for two years with a bizarre pretence he was quadriplegic and inclined to fall into comas.
He was eventually jailed for fourand-a-half years at Swansea Crown Court after he was convicted of stealing more than £40,000 from Mr Richards, who now lives in a care home unaware of what has gone on.
Knight’s wife, Helen, 34, was jailed for 10 months earlier this year for perverting the course of justice by helping her husband feign illnesses – exposed when police uncovered CCTV footage of him on holidays in his caravan and shopping in Tesco stores with absolutely no sign of disabilities.
At Swansea Crown Court yesterday, Knight appeared via video link from Parc Prison in Bridgend – in what appeared to be a wheelchair – for Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) proceedings against him under which the CPS tries to claw back the ill-gotten gains of criminals.
Jim Davis, representing the CPS, told Judge Paul Thomas QC the only viable asset of Knight’s that could be found was the caravan they believe he bought using money taken from Mr Richards.
Mr Davis said Knight had now signed a disclaimer regarding the caravan and Knight himself told the court – after raising his hand to gain attention – that his wife Helen, due for release later this month, had also signed a disclaimer so it could now be sold off.
Mr Davis said it was estimated the caravan, which sat for years on the driveway of the Knights’ home in Sketty Park, Swansea, was worth around £4,000.
He told the court two caravan companies would be invited to view it and to make offers to purchase it – although he said because of the time of year and depreciation it was hard to say how much would be raised.
The Poca hearing was adjourned for 28 days when Knight is again due to appear via a video link.
Knight had pretended to care for Mr Richards, but was in fact funnelling cash out of his bank account and using it to pay for holidays and to buy the caravan. When Knight realised he was going to be prosecuted, he and his wife concocted a story that he had suffered a massive neck injury in a freak garage accident which had left him unable to move and caused him to periodically fall into a comatose state.
He spent 10 weeks in hospital and underwent extensive tests, but doctors could not find anything wrong with him.
Nursing staff became suspicious that, at a time when he was supposed to be in a coma, drinking water from his bedside table “magically disappeared” overnight.
He was also seen walking and sometimes, when sitting down, moving his arms.
When he was sent home, he and his wife continued to see various doctors and claimed he was housebound and unable to communicate.
However, detectives proved there was nothing wrong with Knight after tracing his Tesco Clubcard and finding CCTV footage of him walking around a supermarket and driving home from a holiday over the Severn Bridge.
Photographs of him at a wedding and on fairground bumper cars were also discovered.
When he finally did appear at Swansea Crown Court, Knight pretended to be unconscious from time to time and wore a neck brace while being pushed in a wheelchair by his wife.