A mother who faked her child’s terminal cancer diagnosis conned a cancer charity out of £4,000.
Charlotte Blackwell, 40,contacted the mother of Morgan Ridler – who died of a a rare liver cancer just days before his fourth birthday – to ask for financial help from her charity just months after Morgan died.
Natalie Ridler and the Morgan’s Army Charitable Foundation have raised thousands to help families such as hers who are affected by childhood cancer.
One such family Ms Ridler thought she was helping was Blackwell’s who contacted the 33-year-old.
Blackwell said her child – who had previously been ill – was poorly again, receiving palliative care and set up a GoFundMe for help. she then received £4,000 from the charity before Ms Ridler discovered Blackwell was lying.
Blackwell, of Bridgend, South Wales, admitted fraud and was handed a suspended sentence.
Ms Ridler said: ‘A number of months ago I was approached by an individual who was very upset because their child had relapsed. The family is known to us as a cancer family, and that’s how they passed our initial checks.
‘They were very upset about the prospect of going through things again but also about the odds that had apparently been given to them.
Natalie said Blackwell told her they were raising money for treatment in Germany.
She said: ‘I supported this individual emotionally for a number of weeks, because they said the child was essentially being put on palliative care and, unless they could get this treatment, there were no other options for them.’
Morgan’s Army donated to the fundraising page but Ms Ridler learned Blackwell had also been directly messaging her charity supporters asking them for money too
She said: ‘This was not something I would have ever told anyone to do. It’s not how I operate or run the charity.’
The mother became concerned when she learned Blackwell had asked other organisations for money but resisted help from them and when she investigated further, learned of the con.
She added: ‘It transpired that some years ago, a child of the individual had suffered with cancer and was treated at Noah’s Ark which was why they slipped through our initial checks.
‘However, they had been in remission for some time with no active treatment, no terminal prognosis, and were in layman’s terms ‘all clear’.’
‘Thankfully all funds released to the individual were frozen and recovered at the point of the fraudulent activity having come to light, causing no financial loss to the charity.
‘They had behaved abhorrently over a number of weeks, knowing they were lying and knowing they were taking advantage of me.
‘They had essentially groomed me for two weeks while my heart was breaking for them.’
Blackwell, of Cefn Glas, Bridgend, pleaded guilty to fraudulently receiving funds from Morgan’s Army in an attempt to gain £4,000 for herself at Bridgend magistrates.
Blackwell was handed a 10 month suspended sentence and given a four month curfew monitored by a tag when she was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.
She must also complete 180 hours of unpaid work and pay £150 costs and a surcharge.
Morgan died of cancer on June 28 last year, days before his fourth birthday. He had been diagnosed with a rare and complex form of cancer in October 2021 at the age of two.
After sentencing, his mother said: ‘This particular individual was a parent of a child in remission and it astounds me that someone who has been through it could do it to another cancer family.’