London, November 3 (IANS) A British man faked his own death to get his hands on his life insurance payout worth one million pounds, a media report said Thursday.
Ecuador-born 47-year-old Hugo Jose Sanchez, who was hunted by police for six years, has now been arrested in Australia, Sky News reported.
His plot was unravelled when his fingerprints were found on his own death certificate.
Sanchez carried out the scam along with his wife Sophie, who was arrested and sentenced to two years in jail in September 2010 on related charges.
Sanchez is being held by Australian federal police in Sydney.
They are not the first Britons to attempt such a scam.
Former teacher John Darwin faked his disappearance in a canoe incident in 2002 so that his wife could claim his life insurance.
Darwin turned up alive in 2007. The couple were tracked down while purchasing property in Panama. They were each sentenced to six years in jail in 2008.
A former minister and MP, John Stonehouse left a heap of his clothes on a Miami beach in 1974. He was discovered in Australia and arrested that year.
