Friends of a ‘mum on the run’ who fled the UK four years ago for a dream life in Thailand say they fear for her life after concerning new videos showed her detained with her toddler in a filthy Thai prison cell.
Ellis Matthews, 32, who once appeared on reality show Judge Rinder after claiming to have squandered a £6million fortune, posts bikini-clad videos on TikTok claiming her life in South Asia is funded by £2,300 monthly British benefits.
But friends back in the UK say they haven’t heard from her since she posted a video of her in a Thai jail 10 days ago.
Kama Clark, who formed a close bond with Ellis after meeting on the app, said her friend started posting guides to claiming benefits after losing her job as an English teacher because of abuse from online trolls.
Kama, 40, who had been planning to fly out to Thailand to visit Ellis, told : ‘I’m really worried for her because she’s been targeted by these trolls who have paid a Thai person to follow her and take photographs of her son.
‘She’s in a detention centre but it’s not because of a visa – we believe it’s because trolls have contacted the Thai authorities and said something.
‘I fear for her life if she comes out without that little boy, I really do.’
Until she was arrested and jailed by Thai police, many of her posts on @mumontheruninasia offered insight into how she supposedly claims £2,300 a month in benefits because of her ‘six mental disorders’.
Ms Matthews, who has previously gone by the name of Ellise May Matthews, says she’s now being forced to endure bleak conditions inside the Thai detention centre where the mother is apparently being held.
In one of the photos on TikTok, an image shows a fellow inmate behind bars in the filthy lock-up.
Apparently referencing her young son Cairo, Matthews has written the caption: ‘I don’t care about me but please pray for my son’.
Kama set up a GoFundMe page to help Ellis, with donations currently at £150.
She wrote: ‘Ellis still remains in the detention centre as it stands as no one has been able to make direct contact with her after two days of her being taken to the police station no one has heard anymore.
‘Anyone who knows anything about detention centres abroad knows they aren’t nice places for an adult, let alone a child.
‘Any money raised in this GFM will all go towards Ellis and Cairo as soon as someone has contact with her.’
Previous videos have seen Ms Matthews, who says she ‘ran away’ from the UK while pregnant with her son, helping others to negotiate the UK benefits system while living in the sunshine.
In one video, Matthews, holding a fistful of notes and wearing a string bikini, tells her audience: ‘I picked up my Disability Living Allowance today and I’ve been doing so for the past four years of not living in the UK.’
She explains: ‘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.’
The former charity worker adds: ‘So, I receive around £2,300 per month undisputable [SIC] money and that pays for my lifestyle out here in Thailand.’
Ms Matthews then goes on to share tips that could help others in similar situations claim for such benefits and how to avoid attending UK-based meetings.
Prior to her apparent incarceration, she says she lived in a one-bedroom bungalow with ‘rent and bills paid for by the British benefit system’.
In another video though, she claims she lives in a two-bed ‘villa on private land with a communal pool and 24h security’.
According to the UK Government’s website, Gov.co.uk, British citizens living overseas ‘may still be able to claim some benefits’, saying ‘what you’re entitled to depends on where you’re going and how long for’.
Thailand isn’t listed on the countries that currently have a UK benefits arrangement.
According to the Thai embassy, British nationals can stay in the country for three-months on a tourism visa, which may be extended by another month upon request.
Those overstaying a tourism visa will be fined 500 Baht (£11.40) for each day they overstay in Thailand.