China’s “most devoted fraudster” has returned to public attention after mainland media revisited his case of forging hospital payment slips to keep his wife alive.

Liao Dan, a former factory worker in Beijing with only a secondary school education, had been living on the margins of the city with his wife, Du Jinling, and their son after their workplaces shut down.

Their hardship worsened in 2007, when Du was diagnosed with severe uraemia and told she needed dialysis three times a week to survive.

The treatment cost more than 5,000 yuan (US$730) a month, according to The Beijing News.

Within weeks, Liao had spent the family’s savings and was forced to take his wife home from the hospital.