Tourist 'faked memory-loss to escape nagging mother-in-law'

An Italian tourist who collapsed in Edinburgh cathedral has admitted he faked Amnesia to escape his overbearing mother-in-law.

Fifty-two-year-old businessman Salvatore Mannino claimed to not know his name or how to speak Italian after fainting at St Giles Cathedral last month. He later told police officers he had genuinely collapsed, but the memory loss was a rouse after "a few moments" because he felt superfluous at home. He was identified by the tattoos on his arm. 

"My plan was to convince the doctors that I had lost my memory but for a few moments I really did lose it," he reportedly said.

"At home I felt powerless as a husband and a father," he explained. "My mother-in-law, who has been living with us since 2010, called all the shots and was constantly interfering. I wanted to re-establish my authority."

Mannino had Googled short-term memory loss, along with a floor plan of the cathedral and how to disappear before heading to the Scottish capital, police said. He also left €10,300 ($16,000) in cash and a cryptic note at the family home. His eldest son quickly decrypted the message to "Forgive me, I am sorry".

Mannino said he had planned to return to his family after a few weeks respite. He has now returned to Italy and is being cared for on a psychiatric ward at Pisa’s St Anna’s Hospital.