A FRAUDSTER who allegedly tried to evade justice by claiming to be a comatose quadriplegic has been jailed for four and a half years after conning a frail neighbour out of more than £40,000.
Alan Knight cleaned out the bank accounts of dementia sufferer Ivor Richards after the pensioner was taken into a care home, Swansea Crown Court heard.
It was later discovered the 47-year-old had also forged Mr Richards' will - even using the names of two dead women from a newspaper's obituary section as counter-signatories.
After he was arrested, he even tried to blame his estranged son, claiming he was trying to set him up.
Knight, who refused to attend court while on remand at HM Prison Swansea, had previously said he was too unwell to attend proceedings after suffering a serious neck injury.
He originally was going to contest the fraud and theft charges against him.
However, he changed his plea after CCTV footage showed him walking around on a shopping trip.
Judge Paul Thomas passed sentence on the basis of the fraud and theft charges. He said accusations Knight had tried to avoid court by faking illness would be the subject of a separate investigation.
In passing sentence, Judge Thomas said: "Alan Knight is as dishonest a man as I have ever come across.
"Over a period of two years he took a man in his 80s for every penny he could."
The judge added: "It is clear Alan Knight would stop at nothing in order to try and save his own skin."
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