A benefits cheat who faked his own death to wriggle out of fraud charges has been jailed for 32 months.
Stephen Kellaway, 53, claimed £43,000 in benefits despite his £100,000 salary as a psychologist. His wife claimed he had died while abroad to help him avoid jail for benefit fraud in 2008 - however he was caught sleeping at an airport in Bangkok, using a fake Irish passport.
His wife Nelli Kellaway, who underwent breast enlargement during the family holiday she claimed her husband had been killed on, is on a suspended sentence and has been made to payback £55,000.
The father-of-two, who was extradited from Thailand for the trial, pleaded guilty to four charges of benefit fraud and identity fraud and was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on Thursday.
After being tracked down to Bangkok he told journalists he had lied for "too long": “I’ve been lying about who I am for too long. It is a life of constant anxiety and uncertainty. Parts of my life on the run were very James Bond, but parts were also very squalid, and I wouldn’t recommend what I have done.”
Greg Smith, a councillor with Hammersmith and Fulham, said: “This rogue went to extraordinary lengths to avoid detection.
“This case shows that wherever you flee to you will eventually be tracked down and made to pay for your crimes. We will be doing everything we can to seize this man’s assets.”