Natalie Ridler, 33, said she felt ‘sick’ after realising a woman’s cry for help was all a scam to exploit the charity named after her son, 3, who died of cancer (Picture: Wales News Service)
A heartless mother faked her own child’s cancer diagnosis to pocket thousands of pounds from charity.
Charlotte Blackwell targeted a fund which was set up in memory of three-year-old boy Morgan Ridler who had died from a rare form of liver cancer.
His parents had raised money to help other families but were cruelly scammed out of £4,000 by Blackwell.
The 40-year-old approached Morgan’s mum Natalie Ridler, 33, and asked for help from the organisation named Morgan’s Army Charitable Foundation.
She claimed her child, who had previously been ill, had become poorly again and was receiving palliative care.
Blackwell set up a GoFundMe page for help towards treatment, which prompted Natalie to offer support and money just months after her son had died.
But it later emerged that Blackwell’s claims were completely false, leaving Natalie feeling ‘sick’.
Morgan Ridler, pictured with his mum Natalie, before he died of a rare form of liver cancer (Picture: Wales News Service)
‘They had essentially groomed me for two weeks while my heart was breaking for them,’ a heartbroken Natalie said of Blackwell’s ploy.
Blackwell, of Bridgend, South Wales, admitted fraud but avoided being sent to jail and was handed a suspended sentence.
Natalie said Blackwell ‘preyed on us at one of our most vulnerable periods, emotionally manipulated us and took advantage of the situation’.
‘A number of months ago I was approached by an individual who was very upset because their child had relapsed,’ Natalie said.
‘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.’
Morgan died just days before his fourth birthday (Picture: Wales News Service)
Natalie said she ’emotionally supported’ Blackwell for weeks and offered financial help because the fraudster had told her they were raising funds for treatment in Germany.
After donating to the fundraising page, Natalie found out that Blackwell had also been directly messaging her charity supporters to ask for money too.
It was at that point she investigated further and came to realise it was all a con.
‘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,’ Natalie said.
Charlotte Blackwell scammed a charity set up in honour of Morgan by his parents out of £4,000 (Picture: Wales News Service)
‘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.’
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’ court.
She was handed a 10-month suspended sentence and 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 added: ‘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.’
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