ELLIS MATTHEWS aka MUMONTHERUN – LANCASHIRE

Controversial TikToker Ellis Matthews has been jailed.

The 35-year-old ‘mum on the run’ gained notoriety after she fled the UK while pregnant in 2021 and began a new life in South-East Asia.

She became known on TikTok after sharing tips on how to claim UK benefits abroad, telling thousands of followers how she was pocketing £2,300 a month while living her ‘dream life’ with her new-born son in Thailand.

But last summer, Matthews’ dream life abroad turned into a living nightmare when she found herself locked up in a Thai prison.

She told her followers on TikTok that she had been arrested by immigration officials after concerns were raised by the country’s social services about her son’s welfare.

Matthews’ visa was cancelled and she was locked up in a detention centre in Bangkok, which she described as “a hell hole prison” teeming with rats and cockroaches

After 15 weeks in detention, she was allowed to fly home to the UK, but said she was forced to leave her young son behind with family in Thailand.

After returning to Lancashire last June, Matthews was arrested on suspicion of drugs offences. She was charged with supplying cocaine, as well as possession of cocaine and cannabis.

She appeared at Preston Crown Court for sentencing on Friday (March 13), where she was jailed for 26 months.

Matthews was remanded to HMP Styal to begin her sentence (26 months for supplying cocaine and an additional month to be served concurrently for possession).

Miss Recorder Clancy told the court that Matthews had already served 108 days in detention in Thailand, and this would count towards her sentence in the UK.

Matthews now claims her TikTok videos about scamming benefits were “a joke” to “get more followers and make some money“.

She added: “The truth is I never got any UK benefits while in Thailand, not a single penny.

“It was all a big hoax, that’s all.

“I can understand why people were angry and upset about them.”