[Jackie]

A WOMAN branded the sickest mum in Britain faces jail for putting her son through six years of hell - so she could pocket £130,000 in benefits.
The 35-year-old mum fooled doctors and the boy's dad by insisting he was seriously ill with a mystery condition.

She claimed her son had CEREBRAL PALSY,CYSTIC FIBROSIS, the throat disorder DYSPHAGIA and a mystery ALLERGY to all food. She even managed to persuade docs to operate on him to fit a feeding tube.

She sent him to school in a wheelchair and carrying an oxygen supply, made him wear extra-large clothes so he appeared ill, and claimed he was unable to swallow food.

The lad believed he was seriously sick, and suffered lasting psychological damage. Now eight, he lives with foster parents.

His cruel mother paraded him on TV and got an invite from Simon Cowell to an X Factor live show. She also introduced him to Prince Charles's wife Camilla in a bid to gain attention.

In one tearful interview, she claimed he would have to be fed through a tube into his stomach for the rest of his life.

She said: "It was so hard to think that he'd never eat. He'd see his sister tucking into chocolate and ask, 'Can I have some?' "

The scam meant the mum got the maximum disability living allowance, which police say was used to fund a high-flying lifestyle with free holidays paid for by charities.

Detective Constable Mark Uren said her heartless scam started at birth, when the lad was treated in a special care baby unit. From then on his mum constantly reported him to be ill, even though no illness was ever diagnosed.

He said: "The boy went around with a rucksack and a trolley which had a pump in it to control his feeding. His mother said he could only walk short distances and had to be on oxygen.

"His school spent thousands adapting the building to cater for the wheelchair. But when he was outside he got up and went running around like any other child.

"Officers who searched the mother's home found a large amount of medication and unopened boxes of pump food - unopened because the boy did not need them.

"His bedroom was like a scene from Casualty and his mother wore a nurse's outfit. She even contacted Simon Cowell telling him the boy loved X Factor, and he invited them to a live show."

A police source added: "There are miles of medical files on this case. The boy was made out to be the sickest kid in Britain, and all the time it was his mum who was the sickest person around."

The woman invented so many false symptoms that the boy spent at least six weeks a year in hospital.

She doctored urine samples with glucose to make medics think he had diabetes. Doctors regularly fed him through a tube and eventually decided to fit a permanent one in a major operation.

He was treated at a number of hospitals, but his mum, now separated from his dad, avoided detection by skipping appointments that would have proved he was well.

She sank to a new low as her scam was about to be exposed, telling police she had been raped. She inflicted grazes and cuts on herself, and cops were about to arrest a suspect when she admitted she had lied to postpone a hospital appointment.

She whispered "Guilty" as she admitted perverting justice at Exeter Crown Court yesterday.

The mum, from the West Country, also admitted child cruelty. She will be sentenced in the New Year, although Judge Stephen Wildblood QC has indicated she faces up to three years' jail.

DC Uren said: "She was very cunning in her method and aggressive with medical professionals who disputed her claims."


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...e-was-ill.html