by Paul Hooper

A pensioner - who faked his own death to collect a £500,000 insurance pay out - was caught...because he left his fingerprints on the death certificate!

Anthony McErlean, 66, was supposed to have died after being hit by a passing lorry in Honduras in December 2009.

A claim for £520,000 from the Glasgow-based Ace Insurance had been sent in the name of his second wife, Sonya, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

But when they became suspicious because there was no passport - they alerted police officers who examined the papers and found his fingerprints.

McErlean of Swarling Manor, Petham was jailed for a total of six years after he admitted thefts, fraud and a passport offence.

Prosecutor Donna East told how for four years the father-of-two had also been claiming two pensions in the name of his dead father-in-law - pocketing £68,000.

But detectives - who arrested him in March - found only £3,834.75 in McErlean's bank account.

He was initially bailed while a full investigation was being carried out into the death insurance scam..on the proviso his seized passport was held by police and he didn't apply for another.

But Ms East said the day AFTER his release..he applied for another passport claiming his had been lost. Police officers managed to intercept the document before he could flee the country.

The twice-married fraudster claimed he got into £150,000 worth of debt looking after his first wife - who was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

In February, he collapsed and was taken to hospital complaining of chest pains - and his sentencing hearing was delayed several times for medical tests.

But doctors concluded that he was only suffering from hypertension - and the judge ruled he was fit to start his jail sentence.

His barrister Peter Alcock denied McErlean was a "malingerer" and hadn't been "seeking to delay" the hearing.

But Judge Adele Williams told him he had carried out " a deliberate and calculated" fraud to "gratify his overweening greed".

His fingerprints were already held by police - because he had served a three and a half year jail sentence for robbery in 1975.

After remarrying a Honduran national, he took out an accidental death insurance for £520,000 and in January 2010 the insurance company received a claim in the name of Sonya.

Audio: Martin Bradbeer - fraud investigator for Kent Police

The formed claimed that he was killed in Honduras while changing a tyre - and his body later cremated. He even sent in an eye-witness report from a man who never existed.

Ms East said the form was passed through a friend in Surrey who innocently sent it to the insurance company. But investigators were unhappy with a claim that his passport was not included and alerted police.

The forms were sent for forensic investigation - and experts found his fingerprints on the form - and McErlean had also faked his wife's signature.

The conman would later claim he dreamed up the scam - without his wife's knowledge - because he feared being destitute in his old age".

Mr Alcock said he had "not enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle" and regretted his behaviour.