Devon woman jailed for 'sick son' con

A mother has been jailed for subjecting her son to "enduring" cruelty by pretending he was severely ill, to gain publicity and financial rewards.

The actions of Lisa Hayden-Johnson, 35, from Devon, led to him being operated on, Exeter Crown Court heard. She also presented him in a wheelchair to the Duchess of Cornwall, appeared on television and spent charity donations. She was jailed for three years and three months after admitting cruelty and perverting the course of justice.

'Sadistic fabrication'

The court heard that Hayden-Johnson subjected her son, who is now eight and lives in another part of the country, to a total of 325 medical actions - including being confined to a wheelchair and being fed through a tube in his stomach. She claimed her son suffered from a long list of illnesses including diabetes, food allergies, cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis. Andrew Macfarlane, prosecuting, told the court that Hayden-Johnson's "sadistic fabrication of non-existent symptoms" amounted to "24-hour-a-day torture". He said that the boy's medical treatment meant that the child was socially stigmatised. As a result of Hayden-Johnson's actions, the child underwent a series of "physical intrusions and interventions" which included blood tests and intravenous treatments. Mr Macfarlane said that defendant, who comes from Torbay, achieved national attention as a result of her actions. The court heard that she frequently described her son "as the most ill child in Britain" and that she amassed cash donations and charity gifts, including two cruises. Mr Macfarlane added that boy had been "convinced that he was chronically and seriously ill" and said that the long-term effects of what happened to him remain unclear.

'Disordered and pitiful'

The court was also told that in a bid to avoid a diabetes test arranged for her son in 2007, Hayden-Johnson falsely claimed that she had been sexually assaulted, which later led to her being charged with perverting the course of justice. Sarah Munro, defending, told the court that her client suffered from a factitious disorder and a factitious disorder by proxy. The conditions used to be known as Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The former can cause sufferers to feign illness to draw attention to themselves and the latter leads to the abuse of another person, again to win sympathy or attention. "It's often said that the question is whether the defendant is sad, mad or bad," she told the court. "Perhaps the reality in a case of this kind is that it's a little bit of all of it." Passing sentence, Judge Stephen Wildblood said five adjectives could sum up Hayden-Johnson - "cruel, manipulative, perverse, disordered and pitiful". He said: "Your son will have to realise the fact that the one person who is supposed to care for and nourish him throughout his childhood was in fact causing him harm. "Your experience in custody will be that people who behave with cruelty to children are received in prison as they are in society - with utter rejection. "Your name and face are well-known throughout the country. You will never be in a position to deceive people in this way again. "Anyone else thinking of behaving this way should think about your much publicised downfall." He also handed her a disqualification order banning her from working with children.

The mother who created her son's phantom illness

Lisa Hayden-Johnson has been jailed for three years and three months after putting her son through years of unnecessary medical treatment. But how did she use his fake illness to dupe doctors, meet the prime minister and rub shoulders with royalty. Lisa Hayden-Johnson attracted sympathy and admiration in equal measure. She seemed to be living every mother's nightmare. Her child, born prematurely, was battling a life-threatening allergy which left him unable to eat. She was stoically coping with this cruel twist of fate, struggling to make her son as happy as possible.

But it was all a lie.

If her goal was to attract attention, she succeeded - appearing on GMTV and selling her story to magazines. Hayden-Johnson even took her son to collect a Children of Courage award at Downing Street where they met the then prime minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie. The boy, who believed he was ill, was also introduced to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. In reality, Hayden-Johnson had forced her son into a wheelchair, fed him through a tube and let doctors, taken in by her deception, operate on the child despite the fact that there was nothing wrong with him. And she managed to keep the fabrication from her family, including her husband. The 35-year-old from Brixham, South Devon, has been sentenced at Exeter Crown Court after she pleaded guilty to child cruelty and perverting the course of justice in October 2009. Hayden-Johnson appeared to thrive on the attention that was lavished upon her and her son, who has not been named for legal reasons.

And the lies were lucrative.

She amassed £130,000 in benefits after claiming £20,000 a year in disability living allowance over a six-and-a-half year period.

Unnecessary surgery

Meanwhile, dozens of children's charities gave her freebies including a new car and a cruise in Tenerife. She even received free X Factor tickets. The lies began when the boy was born prematurely in 2001 and given a tube for feeding. He made a recovery but his mother, perhaps seeking more of the attention lavished upon her by sympathetic well-wishers, insisted that this was not the case. For about six years she continued to lie about her son's health, insisting that he was allergic to nearly all food, had cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis, even though medics could not find any symptoms. She also told doctors the child had diabetes and spiked his urine samples with glucose in order to fool tests. Doctors, friends, family and even the boy's father believed the child was unable to eat or swallow food. And the youngster was taken to school in a wheelchair fitted with oxygen bottles. Doctors eventually performed surgery to fit a feeding tube directly into the then four-year-old child's stomach after he began losing large amounts of weight, because of a lack of nutrition.

Fictional qualifications

Meanwhile, she became well known in Brixham where members of the community rallied round to provide whatever help and support they could. But the woman's lies were not only about her child. She also fabricated her qualifications to gain a job as a nurse. And in 2007, when medics insisted that detailed tests should be carried out on her son, Hayden-Johnson claimed she had been sexually assaulted in a bid to cancel the hospital visit. The fantasist also harmed herself in a bid to make the fictitious attack seem authentic. She only admitted that this was a lie when police said they were about to arrest someone. Her fantasy life finally began to unravel when a paediatrician raised the alarm after reviewing her son's medical files and became suspicious that his health problems had gone on for so long without a clear diagnosis. Hayden-Johnson was eventually arrested in October 2007.

'Evil mother'

Her husband was also arrested but, after questioning, police concluded that he had not been aware of the deception and he was released without charge. Last October, two years after her arrest, she pleaded guilty to charges of child cruelty and perverting the course of justice. Following a court hearing, Det Con Mark Uren of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary said of Hayden-Johnson: "She is a cruel, manipulative, evil mother who constantly lied to the medical professionals that her son was the illest child in Britain." He pointed out that this had gone on for "a sustained period of time" during which she had "been calculating" and lied. Det Con Uren revealed that police seized a computer from the woman's house and found a video showing her son eating a roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding at a pub and running without the aid of oxygen or a pump. The boy, who is now eight, lives in another part of the country where he is recovering from the wounds left from an illness he never had. (my view)-imprison her for life.....her whole life...never to be released.