Wife of conman accused of faking coma arrested

Helen Knight, whose jailed husband Alan was accused last year of feigning a comatose state to evade justice, has been arrested for allegedly perverting the course of justice, Channel 4 News understands.

Mrs Knight has also been arrested on suspicion of money laundering offences. It is also understood that Alan Knight himself has also been arrested in prison for the same alleged offences.

Knight, 48, from Swansea, was jailed last November for four and a half years after conning an elderly neighbour, Ivor Richards, out of more than £40,000.

In sentencing Knight, the judge called him as “dishonest a man as I have ever come across”. Swansea Crown Court heard that Knight stole his neighbour’s pension payments, premium bonds and nearly all of his savings.

As part of his deception he forged letters, cheques, and at one point a will. His neighbour had early onset dementia, the court was told.

Knight had also previously made allegations that his son had accepted a £5,000 bribe from a police officer in order to frame him. Both his son and the police officer faced subsequent investigations but were cleared of any wrongdoing. The allegations had been entirely false.

The focus now shifts onto claims which both he and his wife allegedly made regarding his medical condition.

At an earlier hearing Knight had been pushed into and out of the court building in a wheelchair and slippers by his wife. Both were pictured on a previous occasion with Knight in a neck brace in what appeared to be a hospital bed.

‘Neck injury’

He’d allegedly said he was too unwell to attend proceedings after claiming to have suffered a serious neck injury which had left him occasionally comatose and quadraplegic.

Helen Knight had also allegedly lobbied several local politicians to intervene on her husband’s behalf. It’s claimed they made numerous visits to a local hospital.

However, at a later court hearing, the couple were made aware that there was CCTV footage of Alan Knight which showed him walking around Tesco on a shopping trip, as well as driving across the Severn Bridge.

South Wales Police told Channel 4 News: “Police have arrested a 48-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman from the Swansea area on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and money laundering offences. The pair are currently on police bail while an investigation continues.”