A mother faked her son’s terminal cancer diagnosis to scam £4,000 from a charity set up in memory of a three-year-old girl who actually suffered from the disease

A mother who faked her son’s terminal cancer diagnosis defrauded a cancer charity out of £4,000.

Charlotte Blackwell, 40, contacted Morgan Ridler’s mother – who died from a rare liver cancer just days before her fourth birthday – to ask for financial help for her charity just months after Morgan’s death.

Natalie Ridler and the Morgan Army Charitable Foundation have raised thousands of dollars to help families like hers who are affected by childhood cancer.

One of the families Ms Ridler thought she was helping was Blackwell’s, who contacted the 33-year-old woman.

Blackwell said her son, who had previously been ill, was unwell again and receiving palliative care and set up a GoFundMe to appeal for help. She later received £4,000 from the charity before Ms Ridler discovered Blackwell was lying.

Blackwell, from Bridgend, South Wales, admitted fraud and was given a suspended sentence.

Mrs. Ridler He said: ‘A few months ago, a person came to me and was very upset because her son had suffered a relapse. The family is known to be a cancer family and that’s how they passed our initial tests.

‘They were very upset by the prospect of having to go through that again, but also by the odds they had apparently been given.

Natalie said Blackwell told her they were raising money for treatment in Germany.

She said: ‘I supported this person emotionally for several weeks, because they said they were essentially putting the child in hospice care and unless he could receive this treatment, there were no other options for him.’

Morgan’s army donated to the fundraising page, but Ms Ridler learned that Blackwell had also sent direct messages to his charity supporters asking for money too.

She said: “This is something I would never ask anyone to do. This is not how I operate or run the charity.”

The mother became concerned when she learned that Blackwell had asked other organizations for money but resisted receiving help from them and when she investigated further, she learned of the scam.

He added: ‘It turned out that a few years ago, a son of the individual had suffered from cancer and was treated on Noah’s Ark, which is why he passed our initial checks.

‘However, they had been in remission for some time without active treatment, with no terminal prognosis, and were, in simple terms, ‘all well.’

‘Fortunately, all funds given to the individual were frozen and recovered at the time the fraudulent activity came to light, without causing any financial loss to the charity.

‘They had behaved abominably for several weeks, knowing that they were lying and taking advantage of me.

“They had basically been grooming me for two weeks while I was feeling devastated by them.”

Blackwell, of Cefn Glas, Bridgend, pleaded guilty to fraudulently receiving funds from Morgan’s Army in an attempt to win £4,000 for herself at Bridgend magistrates.

Blackwell was given a 10-month suspended sentence and a four-month tag-monitored curfew when she was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.

He must also complete 180 hours of unpaid work and pay £150 in 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, when he was two years old.

After the sentencing, his mother said: “This particular individual was a father of a child in remission and it just shocks me that someone who has been through that could do the same thing to another family with cancer.”