MOTHER WHO SENT HEALTHY SON TO SCHOOL IN WHEELCHAIR..SCAM !!

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Mother who sent healthy son to school in wheelchair in six-year scam to prove he was 'sickest boy in Britain' facing jail

22nd January 2010

A mother who pretended her son was the sickest boy in the country and sent him to school in a wheelchair - even though he was perfectly healthy - faces jail today.
In an astonishing six-year deception, Lisa Hayden-Johnson paraded her son around claiming he had a number of life-threatening conditions.
Craving attention and money, the 35-year-old claimed the boy suffered from cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, a metabolic disorder, diabetes, food disorders, the throat condition dysphagia and a sunlight intolerance.

In order to make people believe her bizarre lies, she forced the boy to go to school in a wheelchair, and to wear sunglasses to protect his eyes and a bright yellow and green hat so he could be easily identified in case of emergency.

The boy spent his early life in and out of hospital being examined by a stream of medical specialists, as his mother convinced them that she had correctly diagnosed her son's illnesses.
Hayden-Johnson also persuaded her son's school to spend much-needed money on improving wheelchair access for the boy.
At home she would often wear a green nurse's uniform and had transformed the boy's bedroom into a miniature hospital-style ward, complete with oxygen cylinders and boxes of medical supplies.
She even allowed him to undergo invasive gastro-surgery under general anaesthetic so doctors could examine her claims that he could not keep his food down.
Police believe she may also have spiked his drinks with sugar, so tests would back her claims that he had developed diabetes.

Hayden-Johnson pocketed around £20,000 a year in benefits, as well as free holidays which were donated to the pair by generous well-wishers.

The boy was paraded around to a string of events and television appearances including GMTV and the Children of Courage awards, where she met the Duchess of Cornwall and Cherie Blair.
She also wrote to SImon Cowell telling him about her son's terrible ordeal and was sent tickets to see the X Factor being filmed.
So convincing was Hayden-Johnson's con that even her husband was fooled, as doctors and nurses were baffled by the boy's supposed conditions.
In one magazine article in 2004 she claimed that without his food pump her son would die, and that he had an allergy so rare that there were only six documented cases in the world.
She went on to describe the torment he suffered when he watched other members of his family eating normal meals. 'What choice did we have - make him sit with us at the dinner table, watching us eat, or get him to sit alone while we all ate together?' she said. 'Either of those seemed too cruel.'

As the net closed on her and her pack of lies threatened to be exposed the defendant sank to a new low, telling police she had been raped by a mystery motorcyclist on a country road near her home in South Devon.
To make her ordeal appear more convincing she rubbed oven cleaner into self-inflicted wounds.
It was not until police announced they were close to arresting a suspect in the rape case that Hayden-Johnson eventually came clean and admitted she had lied about the rape - and the rest of her lies were exposed.

Detective Constable Mark Uren, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: 'She dedicated most of her time to convincing and deliberately deceiving medical professionals that her son was the sickest child in Britain.
'She was craving attention for herself and also to get financial rewards.
'She bullied health professionals, she was so aggressive - and her only medical qualification was as a failed nurse.
'Even his school was nervous about the way she was and bowed down to her.'
During investigations police uncovered evidence that the boy was entirely healthy, in the form of a video shot while the pair were on a cruise.
The film showed the boy, who cannot be named, running around in his swimming trunks - a far cry from being confined to a wheelchair.

DC Uren said: 'He looked like Mark Spitz or Ian Thorpe running around in his Speedos. And there was not a feeding or breathing tube in sight.
'And one family photo showed him eating the biggest carvery you have ever seen with Yorkshire puddings. And he was seen tucking into a burger and bap at a local fair - things his mum said he could not eat.'

In one instance, DC Uren said, the mother sent him to school in a pair of her own sunglasses to protect his eyes from the light. However they were too big for his head so she used Sellotape to keep them in place.

DC Uren said: 'He looked like the singer Roy Orbison.'
He added: 'And in case of an emergency at school, she also insisted he wore a fluorescent green and yellow cap so he could be easily picked out - he looked like a fishing float with the cap on.'
'His bedroom at home was like a scene out of TV's Casualty. There was a specialist bed and boxes of unopened pump feed and medical gear.'
Hayden-Johnson admitted at Exeter Crown Court child cruelty between February 2001 and October 2007 and perverting the course of justice in May 2007 over the false rape claim.
Her children - the boy and his sister - now live with their father in another part of the country.

DC Uren said: 'Both are really happy. The boy is playing sports and thriving.
'His sister grew up without the shared attention playing second fiddle and not knowing if her little brother would die.
'There was great difficulty for us getting to the truth. There were 15 huge files with both the boy and his mum's medical records going back to his birth. She constantly denied being cruel to her son.

'At no stage has she ever apologised for what she has done to her her son and her family - there has never been an explanation.'
Hayden-Johnson is due to be sentenced later today.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0dM2CUn6M

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