A man has been sentenced to prison for pretending he was in a coma – for two years – to avoid standing trial for fraud.

Alan Knight, from Sketty near Swansea, was in hospital for 10 weeks with his mystery illness, and managed to convince doctors and his local MP of the genuine nature of his sickness. His scam was eventually uncovered when police found pictures of him riding bumper cars at a fairground and on a trip to Legoland, The Guardian reports.

Knight was convicted of perverting the course of justice and will serve 14 months in prison, in addition to a four and a half year sentence he is currently serving for fraud and forgery convictions. His wife, Helen Knight, was also convicted and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

Knight was accused of stealing £40,000 from an elderly neighbour who had dementia, but every time someone in authority visited him in relation to the allegation he pretended he was paraplegic, and often in a coma – which he claimed he could frequently fall into.

Knight had been acting as a carer for his neighbour but was stealing money from the elderly man’s life savings at the same time.

He paid for holidays and a caravan with the stolen funds.

As Knight became aware that his scam had been uncovered he and his wife concocted the scheme to claim he had been injured in a freak accident, suffering a serious neck injury.

Knight not only convinced GPs of his illness, but also spent 10 weeks in hospital. Doctors performed a number of tests on him but none could find any physical problems with him.

While he feigned illness his wife organised a campaign to halt the prosecution. She wrote to local MPs and the Prime Minister. The couple’s local MP supported their case.

Nurses caring for Mr Knight became suspicious about his coma when they noticed drinking water left beside his bed would be drunk overnight.

Police officers subsequently traced his Tesco Clubcard, which led them to CCTV footage of him walking around a supermarket.

Police also discovered pictures of him at a fairground, riding bumper cars, and of him attending a wedding and at Legoland.

When attending court Knight kept up his ruse, attending in a wheelchair and neck brace.

Judge Huw Davies told Knight: "All in all your behaviour was unscrupulous and selfish,” and said the case was an “extreme” example of perverting the course of justice.