A London man who faked his own death and fled from the UK to escape jail for fraud was found sleeping in an airport in Bangkok and extradited back to his home country last December.
Psychologist Stephen Kellaway, 54, will face four charges of benefit and identity fraud for swindling £43,000 (THB2.07 million) to pay for his wife’s breast implants, the London Evening Standard reported. Kellaway reportedly earned £100,000 a year from his counseling service and illegally claimed housing benefits on his property portfolio which was worth £1 million.
Kellaway’s Russian wife Nelli claimed in 2008 that he died on a family trip back to her mother country, where she went to get breast enhancement. She was convicted of three counts of fraud and two counts of money laundering in 2010 but got a two-year suspended sentence after claiming her “abusive” husband coerced her.
Kellaway was tracked down by reporters in Bangkok last year and told them about his life of constant fear and shame in Bangkok. “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,” he said.
Kellaway was getting by in Bangkok by teaching English to schoolchildren. His plan was for his wife to collect a £2 million life insurance payout and to reunite with him and their two children abroad.
He was scheduled to be sentenced yesterday March 8 at Croyden crown court in London.
