The exact words of Judge Paul Thomas QC were: “Alan Knight is as dishonest a man as I have ever come across.”

The trial Judge made this statement after the sentencing of Allan Knight who not only schemed and conned his frail neighbor suffering from dementia out of more than £40,000 but has also thwarted justice and evaded authorities for two years by pretending that he is a paraplegic who occasionally succumbed to coma after extreme attacks.

Everything started when Alan and his wife, Helen, befriended their older neighbor, Ivor Richards, an 86 year old pensioner suffering from dementia. The fraudster, after gaining the old gentleman’s trust, systematically stole the money which Richards had worked hard to build up most of his working life.

The couple was soon found out but the devious Knight attempted to foist the blame on his estrange son; claiming that the young Knight burglarized the old man’s home. When this did not work, the crafty, cocky pair cooked up a very convincing act. To try and avoid prosecution, Knight pretended he was paraplegic and often in a coma. And every time a member of the authorities came around to the house they would devise all kind of scheme including going to the hospital for 10 weeks to avoid trial.