Brit mum who bragged about claiming advantages overseas now in ‘hell’ jail with son, 4

TikTok star Ellis Matthews gained social media fame when she allegedly shared advice on how to claim benefits while living abroad – she has now said she was arrested

A woman who gained social media fame when she allegedly shared advice on how to claim benefits while living abroad has been jailed in a place she calls “hell on Earth.”

Ellis Matthews has said she was detained in Thailand after a police raid on her home in Pattaya. The 32-year-old, originally from Bamber Bridge, once appeared on reality TV show Judge Rinder after she reportedly squandered £6 million.

The Mail Online reported Matthews is being held in the Mothers and Children Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok, having previously been held in a local detention centre she posted TikToks from. The centre is reportedly known for grim conditions and for being overcrowded.

“This is hell on earth, it’s the worst prison that you can imagine,” she told the newspaper. “I’m locked up in a cell for most of the day with 16 other people and none of them speak English. It’s so hot and overcrowded that you can barely breathe.”

She added: “My skin is covered in rashes, both me and my son have got lice, terrible insect bites and there’s rats running around.”

Matthews said she has no access to medication and they are fed a strange kind of meat she suspects could be rat or pigeon, but the guards insist to her it is chicken. The rice they are also fed makes her want to vomit, she said.

After she was arrested on March 3, she has been told by Thai authorities she will be deported once she is able to buy an airline ticket, but she says she cannot acces her bank to purchase it.

Matthews added she is determined not to return to the UK and might even renounce her citizenship.

She has over 16,500 followers on TikTok and he posts explainers on how her £2,300 per-month lifestyle is funded by British taxpayers. A number of her videos have racked up thousands of views.

In one video, Matthews said she was able to claim benefits due to having “six mental health disorders” and in another said she does not miss her older children she left in the UK. Matthews claimed to view them as “surrogacies”.

In one clip, Matthews explained how she got benefits while living in Thailand. She said: “I am diagnosed with around six mental disorders that without in-house treatment, without me being put into a hospital for a minimum of one year, my prognosis is quite poor therefore I need ongoing treatment costs to be met by the NHS by the taxpayer, thank you very much.”

But she told the Mail the videos were “just a joke” and she never got any benefits while she was in Thailand. She also said she never had a £6million fortune, but did receive £1.6million from authorities in Lancashire for letting her down during her childhood. There is no record of the award.

A GoFundMe has been set up for Matthews and has managed to raise £180 out of a £1,500 target. The fundraiser, organised by Kama Clark, added: “Keeping it short but will update funds needed to support Mum On the run and Cairo this was suggested by many and myself have taken the choice to set this up without her permission & request of others on TikTok.”

The UK Government website says a British citizen may still be able to claim some benefits even if they travel or move abroad, or even if they already live abroad. But there there are several instances where it is classified as fraud if you have benefits paid to you while abroad, which can include.

• Not telling office that pays your benefit you’re going abroad, even if it’s just for a visit
• Deliberately not reporting a change in your circumstances while abroad, like buying a property, working, or claiming a pension or benefit from another country
• Being dishonest in order to get benefits, like continuing to claim the pension or benefit of someone who has died overseas

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