Estate agent faked a wedding abroad and scammed a cancer charity to get thousands of pounds to pay off gambling debts

An estate agent faked a wedding abroad to con family and friends out of thousands of pounds so she could pay off online bingo debts.

Charlotte Blackwell, 31, dreamt up the scam after getting engaged to boyfriend Daniel Thomas following a five-year fling.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that she forged flight and hotel bookings to persuade friends and relatives, including her future mother-in-law, to hand over more than £12,600 for the bogus nuptials overseas.

But she was caught when pal Helen Morse spotted spelling mistakes in travel documents and contacted travel agent TUI directly herself.

TUI confirmed they were fraudulent and police were called.

Blackwell was arrested and immediately confessed, telling officers: Im sorry, it was to pay off debts and gambling.

The court heard the mother-of-two was carrying out the elaborate scam at the same time as conning a childrens cancer charity out of £4,000.

Last summer Blackwell narrowly avoided jail and instead was handed a 10-month suspended prison term after she lied to the charity, Morgans Army, that her daughter needed specialist treatment in Germany. In reality, the youngster had recovered from brain cancer and was in remission.

Charlotte Blackwell, 31, dreamt up a scam after getting engaged to boyfriend Daniel Thomas following a five-year fling. She sobbed as she was spared prison

Cardiff Crown Court heard that she forged flight and hotel bookings to persuade friends and relatives, including her future mother-in-law, to hand over more than £12,600 for the bogus nuptials overseas

The court heard both cases should have been dealt with together but due to an administration error Blackwells date of birth had been inputted into the records incorrectly so they were not linked up.

Prosecutor Anisha Rai said the wedding scam came to light in March last year, a few months before Blackwell was sentenced for the cancer con, in August, when Ms Morse, who handed over £3,300, contacted TUI about the group booking.

When she provided the booking reference the defendant had given her, she was informed the reference related to a different holiday for an elderly couple that took place the year prior, Ms Rai said.

Following this, the defendant sent the victims fake booking confirmations which had been made to look like genuine TUI documents.

She provided them with fake flight confirmations, fake emails from travel agents and fake bank transactions. She created fake email accounts to make it seem she had been communicating with agents.

Ms Morse suspected something was not right with the documents from the travel agents as there were spelling mistakes. She took them to the travel agents who confirmed they were fraudulent documents.

In a victim impact statement, family friend Sue Chapman, who handed over more than £3,200, said Blackwells actions had made her wary of trusting anyone again.

I cannot believe a close family friend would do this, she said. I find myself unable to sleep at night and anxious paying for anything in case I lose more money. I am unable to trust people.

Last summer Blackwell narrowly avoided jail and instead was handed a 10-month suspended prison term after she lied to the charity, Morgans Army, that her daughter needed specialist treatment in Germany

The court heard the mother-of-two was carrying out the elaborate scam at the same time as conning a childrens cancer charity out of £4,000

The other victims were her then-fiancés mother Paula Thomas, who paid around £3,300, and another friend Tracey Roberts, who paid £2,800.

Alice Sykes, defending, said her client had been going through a difficult time due to her daughters cancer diagnosis and was hugely remorseful.

She gave up work to deal with money issues that came with that and gambled to try to get money back, the barrister said. She (has) placed blocks on websites to prevent gambling and has taken steps to prevent that happening again.

She has two children aged 10 and three. She works full-time as an estate agent earning £1,700 a month and receives Universal Credit. She is willing to pay the money back and has been doing so.

Blackwell, of Bridgend, South Wales, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and wept in the dock throughout the hearing.

Sentencing her to 12-months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, Judge Jonathan Rees KC said the admin error had helped her to escape a prison term because she would likely have been jailed if both matters had been dealt with together.

He slammed Blackwells version of events as fiction and claimed she told a pack of lies during the shameful frauds.

Pictured here is Little Morgan Ridler with mother Natalie Ridler. Blackwell tried to con childrens cancer charity Morgans Army which was set up by his parents

Although she had been open about accruing a large amount of debt, she had underplayed the role of gambling, the judge added.

He ordered Blackwell to pay £3,500 compensation each to Ms Thomas, Ms Chapman and Ms Morse, and £3,250 to Ms Roberts, to reflect the additional aggravation and distress you caused.

She was also told she must complete 120 hours of unpaid work and five days of rehabilitation activity.

Morgans Army was set up by the parents of Morgan Ridler who died of rare liver cancer aged three, in June 2023.

His mother, Natalie Ridler, 33, from Swansea, said Blackwell, who targeted the charity a few months after Morgan died, preyed on us at one of our most vulnerable periods.

(Blackwell) 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, she said.