Alan Barlow, 67, got disability allowance and three other handouts in a scam that lasted at least seven years.
But he lived abroad with a new wife and two children ,using his UK council flat solely as a base to return for NHS treatment.
Barlow got disability benefit in 2005 for multiple sclerosis and chronic lung disease.
He went on to get pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit.
The last two were axed in 2008 over his Thailand stints. But they were reinstated when he claimed ignorance of rules banning benefits after 13 weeks abroad.
JPs issued a 2011 conditional discharge over the scam but he carried on.
Prosecutor Richard McConaghy told his latest trial: “At least from 2010 he lived in Thailand. He married there in 2014. His UK house was used a base to get treatment.”
Barlow, of Stoke, got 16 months’ jail at the city’s crown court after admitting four welfare fraud raps.
Judge David Fletcher said: “You were fully aware that by maintaining a permanent residence outside the UK that the claims you were making for four different types of financial assistance were fraudulent.
“Having being convicted, you simply carried on doing what you were doing before.
You were perfectly content that the taxpayers in the UK funded your life, and that of your wife and children, in Thailand.”
Richard McConaghy, prosecuting, said: “He married in Thailand in 2014. The relationship he had there involved two children – one of whom was adopted.
His council house in this country was used as a base to get medical treatment.”
Robert Holt, defending, said: “He had a desire to be with his family because he feared being alone.
“He thinks he has not very long left in his life and he wishes to die in Thailand.”
He is repaying the cash at £30 a week.
Let’s hope he has longer to live than he thinks !
(Source:The Sun)