A pensioner who faked his own death for a massive cash payout has had his prison term cut because of his ailing health.

Anthony McErlean, of Hill Road, Canterbury, claimed he was hit by a truck in the Caribbean in a bid to pocket £520,000 from a life insurance policy.

But the 67-year-old was snared after his own fingerprints were found on the bogus death certificate and he was sentenced to six years at Canterbury Crown Court last September.

Two Appeal Court judges have now cut that jail term to five years, of which McErlean will serve two-and-a-half behind bars, after hearing he is suffering from heart disease.

Mr Justice King, sitting with Mr Justice Irwin, told the court McErlean had previous convictions for fraud and theft dating back five decades, but had stayed out of trouble since the 1980s.

But he took to crime again in 2007, when his father-in-law died and McErlean continued to claim his state and Port of London pension, the judge said.

The court heard he wrongly received £68,000 from the pension scam, before attempting to defraud his insurance company in 2009.

McErlean filed documents (pictured below) claiming he had been killed by a truck while changing a car tyre in Honduras, but the insurance company suspected he was up to something and reported the matter to police, the judge said.

After police found his fingerprints on the death certificate, McErlean wrongly claimed a passport in a bid to skip the country while on bail, the court heard.

He eventuallly admitted two counts of theft and two of fraud, telling a probation officer he found the lure of the money "irresistible".

His lawyers went to London's Court of Appeal claiming his six-year prison stretch was too long considering he has heart disease and only attempted the fraud to support his family.

After hearing McErlean's claims, and reading a "letter of contrition" he sent from his prison cell, the two judges agreed to cut his sentence to five years.

Mr Justice King said: "This is the case of an elderly fraudsman with identifed heart disease, and previous convictions of considerable antiquity.

"In the case of the most serious offence, that of the fraud in relation to the insurance company, thankfully the money was never handed over...in any event, on the principle of totality, we are satisfied that the sentence was too high."