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The.Mother.of.All.Cons.S01E02.Turning.Detective
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00:142015, I was living in London. I had just started working as one of the pilots for
00:21a company called Stratajet, the Uber for private jets. We had all sorts of clients
00:28from, you know, Saudi Arabian princes to, you know, British businessmen to politicians,
00:36celebrities, all sorts. It was a few days before Christmas. My parents had flown in
00:44from Norway that day. And our officers got a phone call from Megan's mom. And she told
00:53us about her daughter, who was terminally ill with a brain tumour. We were told that she's
01:01got this amazing charity, Believe in Magic. And they supported, you know, terminally ill
01:06children. There was mention of One Direction having supported it. Then there was a prize
01:13from David Cameron. So it seemed to be a real important and special charity. We were told
01:23that there was a whole group of children that wanted to go to Disney World for Christmas.
01:29But Megan had to be in hospital when the rest of them had left on a boat. But now she
01:36was
01:36out of hospital and she really wanted to do this. It was sort of one of her sort of final
01:39wishes. Now, because of her condition, she wasn't able to fly in a normal aircraft because of
01:48the pressure. So they had been calling around when they reached us. Then hearing about how
01:56ill she was, you wanted to do everything you could to help her and to make sure that, you
02:01know, she could get to Disney World.
02:25It just seemed completely off the wall. Why are you talking to Buckingham Palace about a private
02:30plane? But whenever Meg did something, it was so kind of monumentally over the top.
02:44Do you know how it was paid for? Meg said that someone from One Direction contributed
02:50to or paid for the flight. In my head, I'm imagining a Gulfstream private jet with jacuzzi in the
03:03back and beds everywhere and cinema screens. So what are you looking at? So this is, well,
03:18there you go. It's a page from my old logbook. So this was the whole trip. And this is the
03:24absolute definitive. It wasn't conventional. We were told we had to remain at a very low
03:32altitude, really sea level, because the air pressure could potentially have a dire impact
03:38on the shunt in her brain. In the most brutal terms, we were concerned that her brain would
03:43come out of her skull. So we had to try and find an aircraft that could fly at sufficiently
03:49low cabin pressure to get her across the Atlantic.
03:56There was certainly one aircraft, a 1983 Piper Chieftain, but they are not in any way at all
04:04luxury. If you can imagine first class in a commercial flight being private jets, then
04:12the Chieftain is a Greyhound bus.
04:17When we got to the airfield, it was a propeller plane. There was no bar, there was no jacuzzi,
04:23there were no beds. But it was still kind of an amazing thing as a 19-year-old.
04:32How much did it cost?
04:34I have no idea, but just for reference, a private jet flight back in 2015 across the
04:41Atlantic would be £130,000, £140,000.
04:49When I first met Megan and Megan's mum, I said to the mother, are you not coming with us?
04:56And she declined. That's when I also met Will, who was going instead of her.
05:02And we were actually under the impression he was part of the kind of medical team, keeping
05:06an eye on her. And Megan looked ill.
05:10Her hair was very stringy. She was incredibly pale.
05:14She had two bags with her. One was full of clothes. The other one was full of medication.
05:21And she seemed a lot younger than she was. I think her passport put her at 13.
05:26But she was, to an onlooker, you would have put her maybe at 10 or 11.
05:33So she was actually 20 at this point?
05:36She wasn't.
05:40She was 20.
05:46She couldn't have been. There's no way she was 20 years old.
05:50She...
05:51Maximum 13, 14.
05:53So she appeared much younger to you?
05:55She seemed like a proper child, yeah.
06:00Wow.
06:10Because of Megan's condition, we wanted to see how high we can go.
06:18And for her to give us a sort of thumbs up if she feels okay.
06:23We thought it would be about 2,000 feet, about half a mile above the ground.
06:27As it turned out, as soon as we got airborne, she said that she could hear ticking in her shunt.
06:33And it was getting quite painful.
06:36So we didn't really go above 500 feet, which meant that we couldn't use the autopilot.
06:43So I ended up hand-flying.
06:47So the first day we went to Iceland, we were fueled, and it was very icy.
06:55And I remember her running around on that ice and, like, ice skating and, you know, playing, I guess, like
07:01a child would.
07:03And I was so nervous.
07:05If she falls over and hits her head...
07:12I just felt like she was very fragile.
07:20And in the very early hours...
07:25Will comes to my door.
07:27He seemed very concerned and stressed.
07:30It was very serious.
07:34Meg's health took a turn.
07:37Her kind of head would drop and she'd struggle to get words together.
07:43Was taking more of her medication than I think she was meant to.
07:48To try and combat her symptoms.
07:51Do you remember what medication she was taking?
07:54It's liquid morphine.
07:58I felt kind of very out of my depth.
08:02Before we left, Megan's mother gave us the mobile number of a consultant
08:10who told me the only two places ready to take Megan was back to Great Ormond Street in London,
08:17or Boston Children's Hospital.
08:20The advantage of Boston was that they had been treating Megan and knew her condition.
08:26Everything changed all of a sudden.
08:29If we don't get her to hospital in Boston, she's going to die.
08:33Let's call our operations team.
08:35Because we needed to get new clearances to fly into Boston and enter US airspace.
08:42Without, you know, being targeted as a sort of unfriendly vessel, right?
08:50The guys at StrataJet phoned Downing Street.
08:53Downing Street phoned the White House.
08:55The White House got hold of border security.
08:59And they said, your callsign is now Golf Oscar Mike Medivac, and you are cleared to do whatever you want.
09:06And that, on the next leg of the journey, was imperative because the weather at that stage had turned so
09:12bad that we could not legally fly.
09:19I have never seen weather that even comes close to what it was like out there.
09:28The winds were well over a hundred miles an hour, waves maybe 150 feet tall.
09:36Icebergs tossed around like matchboxes.
09:42It looked like the sea was boiling.
09:45The rain was so heavy.
09:48And then everything fell to pieces in the most unexpected way.
09:59It was minus 40 degrees Celsius.
10:03And the heater broke.
10:06And that then became a very, very difficult problem.
10:11It was cold like never felt before.
10:15Meg and I kind of had to use all of our clothes and blankets from our suitcases to keep warm.
10:21And kind of huddled up on the floor.
10:24She wasn't in a good way.
10:27She was turning blue.
10:31Megan looked really sick at this point.
10:33I didn't think she was going to make it.
10:36And I knew my body was shutting down.
10:41I'd completely lost the feeling in my toes and my fingers, having flown seven hours non-stop at this stage.
10:50And I just knew that the sensible thing to do was just call it a day and let her drift
10:59away.
11:01But then you have this problem, which is you've got to...
11:12Yeah.
11:16You have to be able to live with yourself.
11:19And I'm sorry.
11:21God, I haven't thought about this for so long.
11:25And I just couldn't let her life away.
11:29I wouldn't have been able to live with myself.
11:31So I knew I was going to get her to Boston.
11:43It's super dark, super bumpy.
11:46It's exhausting.
11:49At one point, I'm looking at the instrument.
11:51And I thought I can see the profile of a lady's face.
11:57And I just thought, gosh, what was that?
11:59And sort of had to shake myself awake.
12:01And of course, I was hallucinating.
12:04That's how tired and cold I was.
12:08I remember going into Boston and seeing castles in the sky.
12:13I knew my mind was shutting down.
12:15That was the most scary part of the whole thing.
12:18I don't think I could have gone on much longer.
12:24And they just shut the airport down and let us land wherever we wanted.
12:30They had sent every police car, ambulance, anything with a blue light was there to greet us.
12:40And she suddenly perked up a lot.
12:45And we were met by her mother's friend who told us she was going to take her to hospital herself.
12:55I don't even remember saying goodbye to Megan.
12:57I think she just disappeared.
13:02What happened next? Was he landed? Did she go to the hospital?
13:08I can't remember.
13:10I don't think she did.
13:18To the best of my knowledge, nobody had ever flown a few hundred feet across the Atlantic in the history
13:25of aviation.
13:27It's, I think, something we should all be proud of.
13:30And then we fast forward to you guys getting in touch.
13:34And that was when I realized not everything was as it appeared.
13:52Once upon a time, a little girl lived with her mother in a small stone cottage.
13:58It's been an incredible year, really.
14:03Believe in Magic has grown so much.
14:05The little girl was poorly, but all she thought about was helping other poorly children.
14:11It's run by me and my mum.
14:13We've just brought magic to so many poorly children.
14:16I love magic.
14:19Believe in Magic was like no other charity.
14:22It was more like a family.
14:25Meg and Jean were the fairy godmothers.
14:28They would just appear and sprinkle their magic.
14:33Hi, I'm Lily from One Direction.
14:35Me and the boys have been working with Meg and Jean now for almost as long as we've been in
14:39band.
14:40The power and might of One Direction put this celebrity rocket under the feet of Meg and Jean.
14:50And they did do unbelievable things.
14:55It seemed like the perfect fairy tale.
14:58But was it too good to be true?
15:04Were they amazing women?
15:07Was Megan really sick?
15:11Or is this one big scam?
15:14We were going to find out what the truth was.
15:19You threw in disgusting education to us.
15:22I hope so much that you'll see how well you've been.
15:27They were out for blood.
15:29And they got it.
15:33Not all fairy tales end happily ever after.
15:50In 2016, Jean is telling everybody that Meg is seriously ill in America.
15:58With multiple life-threatening bacterial infections.
16:05But having found Meg and Jean in Disney, it gives you courage in your convictions that actually there's something very
16:14wrong about this.
16:16So the big question is, does she really have a brain tumour?
16:22How ill is she? What does she have wrong with her?
16:26Because Meg can't be desperately ill in hospital fighting for her life.
16:31While simultaneously staying in Disney.
16:35The story doesn't end up.
16:39Did you know that they were staying in Disney?
16:43I don't think I knew that they were staying in Disneyland Florida.
16:48But in my head that's not strange either.
16:51Because I think I'd heard from Jean that Meg was really not in a good place at that time.
17:00So, to me, that trip was medical.
17:05It was Jean realising Meg was getting worse.
17:10And giving Meg that final holiday that Meg had given to all of the other kids.
17:17It's a fairytale land where everything looks perfect.
17:23Everyone's happy.
17:25No one's worried about their health or illnesses.
17:28And it's obviously Meg's happy place.
17:31And I think for Meg that was quite important.
17:34To keep her spirits high and keep her wanting to get better.
17:49Believing magic did become an obsession.
17:52I just wanted to get to the truth.
17:56Surely, those that have been close to Megan would have seen some red flags.
18:02So, I'd private message people over and over again.
18:07Hidden behind a fake profile.
18:14I was receiving these messages.
18:16Other people I knew were receiving similar messages.
18:21And Meg cared so deeply what other people thought about her.
18:25And what other people were saying about her.
18:27And it was just...
18:28It was horrendous.
18:30None of us could understand what the end goal was.
18:40There's a code of honour with parents.
18:42You don't question how sick a child is.
18:49It was just a bit of a creepy, creepy message.
18:53Did you know who she was?
18:54I hadn't got a clue.
18:56So, this is just out of the clue you get a message?
18:59Yeah.
19:00And when I didn't reply to the first one, she said,
19:03Hi, did you get my message, Will?
19:05I'm interested in how, believe in magic, charitable funds have been spent.
19:09And what did you respond?
19:10I didn't, I blocked her.
19:12It's none of her business at all.
19:20We knew that they'd travelled over in the summer.
19:23We're now talking October.
19:29So, it was a reasonable guess that they'd just been staying in Kidani village for four months.
19:40You know, they're going to hold their hands up and say,
19:43Fair Cop, or dig in and, you know, trench warfare.
19:49And obviously, that led to the next chapter.
20:05I'm not sure who you are, but I have to make it clear that you are now harassing myself and
20:10my seriously ill daughter.
20:14Given our relationship with Disney, our insurance and hotel came to an agreement that our room would be blocked out
20:21with round-the-clock nursing care.
20:25They have arranged what is essentially hospice care and for Meg to receive exactly the same care as she does
20:32inpatient in our hotel room.
20:36She's not in any way in Disneyland.
20:40She is not in any way in Disneyland.
20:44And we have been allowed to be in our room.
20:46She isn't able to leave it as we are in isolation with neutropenic precautions.
20:52So, neutropenic is when you don't have an immune system, you don't have any cells to fight infection.
20:57So, where you should be is in a hospital room.
21:00But, according to Jean, Megan has doctors travelling to the Kidani to keep Megan's spirits up.
21:07So, you're kind of smirking at that?
21:09Should I not?
21:10Do you think it's ridiculous? Tell me.
21:12Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous.
21:14I can't believe you'd even write it, but I can only speak from experience.
21:18And my little boy was in intensive care.
21:21And he was in a stem cell transplant ward with nurses that were gowned.
21:26And, you know, family was allowed to come in.
21:28We're talking about a villa, a Disney villa.
21:32And you being so special that doctors and nurses are prepared to travel to Disney.
21:38If you continue to contact us or spread your awful accusations, we will be confirming to the police that we
21:46are taking this further and arrange a restraining order.
21:51When she says she's reporting to the police, did that make you nervous?
21:56No.
21:58Why?
21:58Because it was bullshit.
22:02So you just thought she was calling your bluff?
22:05Yeah, she was attempting to bully and intimidate us and get us to back off.
22:10And, you know, sorry, but that's not happening.
22:18This is 2016. Adam died in 2013.
22:24You don't put your life back together again immediately.
22:28It's a very long and slow process.
22:32And when you're breathed, you know, sometimes, sometimes you actually want to have an argument with people.
22:39Sometimes you want to fight people because that's what's in you, right?
22:44You want to, you want to, you hurt and you want to, you want to fight back and you want
22:49to, you want to hurt other people.
22:53And as a parent who had cremated his own son, when they justified going to Florida because Meg was exhausted
23:07and needed a rest because she'd been to too many poorly children's funeral.
23:11Right?
23:12That, that enraged me.
23:46So I tell Jean who I am and that it was time for it to stop.
23:53Did she respond?
23:55Yes. So Jean and I, we had a little back and forth.
24:00In one, she said, what a very unhappy person you must be.
24:05To which I replied, dear Jean, as you know, my child died of cancer, which puts me right up there
24:11on the very unhappy person chart.
24:15There was clearly an element of trying to get one up on each other and she dug her heels in.
24:22Somehow she managed to figure out that Joe was involved as well.
24:29But none of that was going to be enough to stop me and Joe from carrying on.
24:34They're in some luxury villa. It's over £600 a night.
24:39My biggest concern was this was being paid for by charity money.
24:44Every day vulnerable families were donating.
24:48I want the charity commission to be aware of all this information.
24:51So I emailed them.
24:53When are you going to take this seriously?
24:56When are you going to put a stop to this?
25:09When this group of parents started to question things, what did you think?
25:15I thought they don't know what they're talking about.
25:18It appears that they were quite bitter parents who just saw this machine of a charity partnering with some of
25:27the biggest celebrities in the world and didn't see Meg when she was kind of crashing.
25:35They didn't see the vulnerable side of Meg.
25:41You guys, I can't really die right now.
25:45I'm really sorry.
25:47I'm so scared.
25:50I've never been so scared in my entire life.
25:55It's so much more fear than nothing is writing.
26:00I can't do this anymore.
26:03Oh...
26:06I just love you so much.
26:12Meg wasn't like a straightforward friend.
26:15It wasn't in a romantic way or anything, but it was...
26:18There was so much more to Meg.
26:21It was an element of care.
26:22There was an element of kind of watching out for Meg.
26:27It was like a constant job to keep on top of her medication
26:32You just kind of felt a bit responsible
26:36I had a notebook about what she needed to take and when
26:41But it just became second nature
26:43It was like 11 o'clock, 1 o'clock, 3 o'clock
26:46Oh, it's 5 past 3
26:50And although Meg was a 20-year-old
26:52I don't think Gene saw Meg as an adult a lot of the time
27:00If I went out with Meg
27:02Sometimes Gene would call and ask Meg to go and get a blood test
27:07Or stop by a pharmacy to pick extra medication up
27:12So it's kind of approved from the top down
27:17And having seen what they've been through, what they've built, how hard they work
27:22I think I just felt it was important to stick by Meg and Gene
27:27And kind of put blinkers up to Joanna and everyone else who was saying horrible things
27:33Because I couldn't fathom that it would fit in with what I'd seen
27:39Did you ever think that maybe Meg could have lied to you about anything?
27:45No
27:47Meg couldn't have lied
27:49I mean
27:51What was there for Meg to lie about?
27:55She was taking pills
27:57She was going to hospital
27:59I don't think it was ever really a question
28:03That she was ill
28:15One evening
28:17I got a message
28:19Please can we have your email address?
28:22Gene's got something for you
28:25So it was like
28:26Oh gosh
28:27Okay
28:27And I gave her
28:29Sarah Smith against fraud
28:31At gmail.com
28:32I thought you can have that one
28:35And then I waited
28:38And this email came through from Gene
28:41And I opened it
28:42And it was like
28:44Oh my god
28:52Up until this point
28:54Meg had not been involved in any of this
28:58All of the updates were from Gene
29:01I shit myself when they sent that video
29:04That was like
29:05Fuck
29:07What am I going to see here?
29:11And I opened it
29:14It's Megan
29:16She had oxygen prongs at her nose
29:18And it was like
29:19Oh shit
29:20She's in hospital
29:21Oh my god
29:22I could have vomited
29:23And then I pressed play
29:26Hi Lake Bird
29:27And Joanna Ashcroft
29:28It's Meg
29:29Oh my god
29:29That's my name
29:30This is surreal
29:31This is too personal
29:33This is so confrontational
29:35As you can see
29:36We obviously have far more important things to be doing with
29:40And disgusting accusations that you've thrown at us
29:42At one of the worst humps of our whole lives
29:45All we have ever
29:46Ever tried to do to both of you
29:48Is help in any way that we could
29:51To create a little medic for your families
29:53For your children
29:55I don't know what else you want to see
29:56You've had my hospital letters
29:58I'm talking about
30:00You're going to see my pick line
30:02Here
30:03Into my heart
30:03You want to do this card
30:05I don't know what you want
30:06And nothing will probably ever be good enough for you
30:11I don't know why you've done what you've done to us
30:13But you have completely devastated us
30:16And broken on me
30:19Did you feel guilty at all?
30:23The whole thing's ugly
30:25I don't know if that means you feel guilty
30:28But the whole thing
30:29From start to finish
30:33Is just ugly
30:35And it becomes more ugly
30:38And unedifying
30:39As time goes on
30:43Did I feel guilty?
30:49No
30:51I have every hope in the world
30:53That you will see how wrong you've been
30:56And apologise
30:58I'm very sorry to see that if you don't
31:01You'll be hearing from us very, very soon
31:06Once you're over that initial shock
31:08Then you take a step back
31:10You start to question
31:14Could Megan and Jean have set up that for the video?
31:20She lifts her arm up
31:22And if you really zoom in
31:24You can actually see her monitor behind
31:26And her oxygen levels are 100%
31:32Adam was on oxygen on a number of occasions
31:37And even on oxygen
31:39His O2 level would never get to 100%
31:44This is not as ill as the descriptions
31:48That Jean was sending to people
31:51Via Meg's turn for magic
31:55Meg would be completely bedbound
31:59Wired up to multiple different syringe drivers
32:04And barely able to lift her head off the pillow
32:07Let alone make this speech
32:11But there was this air that they were untouchable
32:25Their connection to One Direction
32:28And their families
32:29Gave them credibility
32:34The Cinderella Ball showed how close
32:36One Direction boys and their mums were
32:39To believe in magic
32:40And Joanna Deakin was very, very supportive of Jean
32:44To me, they were in it for all the right reasons
32:47They genuinely cared about the children
32:50They genuinely got to know the children
32:52And encouraged the One Direction boys
32:55To support the charity
32:57To fundraise
32:59These two ladies are the charity
33:02They paid in souls
33:03No expenses whatsoever
33:04And all they want is just a bit of help tonight
33:07Keep making that magic
33:10They're pumping money into this charity
33:13I don't believe the funds are being well spent
33:16So, under the Sarah Smith Facebook page
33:19I messaged Joanna Deakin, Louis' mum
33:41It was determined that if Joanna was going to speak to anybody
33:47She should speak to me
33:51Not long into the conversation
33:54And bearing in mind
33:55That she didn't know who I was
33:58She told me that she was in
34:00University College Hospital
34:02And she'd just been through a bone marrow transplant
34:05For her leukemia
34:08And would I please not share that with anyone
34:11Because they were trying to keep it out of the newspapers
34:14And I think that probably demonstrates a little bit
34:19About how honest and open and trusting that she was
34:23The fact that she shared that with me on a telephone call
34:26Obviously I never told anybody
34:29And she told me that she recently had had concerns as well
34:35They would visit her in hospital
34:38And she was under neutropenic precautions
34:41And she would have expected that Meg and Jean would understand
34:45And know what to do and what not to do
34:50You know, they would give her things
34:51And hug her
34:54She told me that when they raised the money in 2015
34:58It was actually Joanna that got them the money that they needed
35:03In such a short period of time
35:06And that Joanna and Louis
35:09Had done everything to organise the Cinderella Ball
35:13It had been a nightmare
35:16Jean had never told her how much money it had raised
35:19Only not very much
35:21And then Jean had written to her
35:24I think on two or three separate occasions
35:26And asked her to transfer money
35:30Substantial sums of money
35:32Hadn't actually even asked
35:34How she was
35:35But I just asked her
35:36If she could transfer the money
35:40I said I'd update her
35:42With any more information
35:46That was actually the last time
35:48That we had any kind of contact
35:51Joanna very sadly
35:52Died of her cancer
36:08At this point
36:09They'd been in America
36:11For about five months
36:14So they were spending a lot of money
36:16In Disney
36:18But donations had slowed down
36:20So we knew that it was only a matter of time
36:23She has to come back
36:25The way that they had to travel
36:27Because of Meg's medical condition
36:30Is they took the Queen Mary 2 luxury cruise liner
36:34On its transatlantic crossing
36:44My parents have been on that trip
36:47It's a kind of a once in a lifetime
36:48It's pure luxury
36:50You know
36:50It's expensive
36:51You're very very fortunate
36:53To go on a trip like that
36:56When we looked at the timetable
36:58The next ship leaves from New York
37:01On November the 12th
37:02And then November the 12th
37:05There's an update
37:06Which says
37:08We may have a chance
37:10To get home
37:14The coincident timing
37:15Of November the 12th
37:17And the boat leaving on November the 12th
37:21Were they on the boat?
37:29Imagine that we get photographs
37:31Of them coming off the boat
37:33Then it's more evidence
37:35To show that
37:36This was one big scam
37:38I'll pay for a private investigator
37:40To get the proof
37:43If they were definitely on the boat
37:44Is she going to come out
37:45In a wheelchair
37:47On oxygen?
37:49We wouldn't put anything past them
37:52To what lengths
37:53Are they going to go to?
38:05There was so much riding on that day
38:08Not only the £1,000 that I'd paid
38:10But also our reputation
38:13People know who we are now
38:15Is this going to bite me on the arse?
38:18There's 2,000 plus people
38:20Disembarking
38:23And all you can do
38:25Is wait
38:26And see what transpires
38:34And then I got a phone call
38:37From the private investigator
38:41They've got off the boat
38:47Oh my goodness
38:53They are laden with Disney suitcases
38:57Gina's got a tan
39:00It's like two tourists
39:01That have just stepped off
39:02I couldn't see anything medical at all
39:05Nobody would have realised
39:07What these two have been telling people
39:10For the past four or five months
39:14This proved
39:16She was well enough
39:18To push her own suitcases
39:20Didn't need any oxygen
39:22Didn't need assistance
39:24That was the eureka moment
39:27Of all eureka moments
39:30Nailed it
39:34We've finally got the evidence now
39:37We're finally going to show people
39:40And they're going to say
39:40Yeah
39:43Let's just be careful here
39:46By this point
39:47Jo's been contacting the police
39:50Probably multiple police
39:54Officers and forces
39:55Trying to get them
39:57To look into
39:58This
40:00We obviously gave
40:01The police the photographs
40:04But we were
40:05Cautioned against
40:08Putting those in the public domain
40:10As it might jeopardise
40:12Investigations
40:15It was frustrating
40:16But there was nothing more we could do
40:21My concern was
40:23It would take too long
40:26The Meg's Turn for Magic Facebook page
40:28Was still updating all this
40:31Absolute rubbish
40:35The lies just keep on coming
40:39Saying that she's going to a hospice
40:41She's on palliative care
40:43At what point is Jean just going to stop this?
40:49Jean weaponised other people in the community against us
40:53For several months
40:54We have been stalked
40:55Threatened and blackmailed
40:57By a tiny group of people
40:58Who've made our lives total hell
41:00Painted us as jealous
41:03And vindictive
41:05Saying we'd asked for stuff
41:07And sadly they had to prioritise
41:09More poorly children
41:10Most of their group
41:11Have requested either financial support
41:13Or free holidays
41:14From Believe in Magic
41:15In the past year
41:18Garbage
41:20But what happened is
41:21People believed it
41:24We need to do something about it
41:30The Facebook page
41:31Was the last
41:34Terrible
41:35Unedifying
41:36Awful
41:38Horrible
41:38Throw of the dice
41:40It was my idea
41:42What were you going to call it?
41:44We were going to call it
41:45All sorts of stuff
41:52But we settled on
41:54The truth about Meg and Jean
41:57And we fully
41:59Wanted everybody to participate
42:06Meg
42:06Jean
42:07All of their supporters
42:12You make your own mind up
42:13Form your own questions
42:17Let's just lay it all out there
42:20Everything
42:21That
42:23Has ever
42:24Made us suspicious
42:26It's time to
42:27Publicly
42:28Expose them
42:39And then all hell
42:42Broke loose
42:54Jean's loyal supporters
42:57Went on the attack
42:58And it was just
43:00Venomous
43:02One of the comments was
43:04You know
43:04I'm beginning to
43:05Wonder how sick
43:06Your child was
43:07Joanna
43:08I was like
43:09Don't
43:10Don't mention my son
43:12You know
43:13Amongst
43:13Of this
43:21We thought
43:22There would be
43:23A groundswell
43:25Of people
43:27Wanting
43:28To know
43:29What the truth was
43:31I think that was
43:33Naive
43:34Loyal believers
43:35Would come back
43:36And attack
43:37And say
43:37Joanna
43:37Have you seen
43:38The sheer amount
43:39Of meditation
43:40She takes every day
43:41And then
43:42Post photographs
43:43Of Megan
43:44And Jean's hotel room
43:46Inside the Kidani
43:47As evidence
43:50The photographs
43:51Are clearly real
43:52They've clearly got
43:53Stacks of medical equipment
43:55And 20-30
43:57Different oxygen cylinders
43:59You know
44:00You do stop
44:01And wonder
44:04And then
44:05Like a bolt
44:06Out of the blue
44:08I received
44:09A Facebook message
44:13Don't doubt
44:13Yourself
44:14You're on
44:14The right track
44:17The person
44:18Who had sent
44:19That
44:19Was
44:23Nina
44:24Jean's daughter
44:25And Meg's
44:26Older sister
44:38I always say
44:39Where I grew up
44:41That was
44:43The good part
44:44Of my childhood
44:46It was just
44:47Idyllic
44:50We live
44:51Next door
44:52To
44:52Alvin Stardust
44:54Phil Collins
44:55Lived down the road
44:55And Jean
44:57Once
44:57Drove my brothers
44:58Up to Phil Collins' house
45:00So they could
45:01Wash his car
45:05She loved all of that
45:09This is the road
45:11That I grew up on
45:13And
45:14This
45:16Was
45:18The house
45:19I grew up in
45:27It was all about
45:28Impressing people
45:31She was the editor
45:32Of this
45:33Little village
45:35Magazine
45:35Called
45:36Village Life
45:38And
45:39There was
45:40One of those
45:40Big mahogany desks
45:41With the green lever
45:44All the curtains
45:45Were Laura Ashley
45:46And there was
45:47Big blue agar there
45:49You know
45:50Just all the stuff
45:51You'd have in the magazines
45:54I've had cousins
45:56Say to me before
45:56Like
45:57We thought
45:57That you
45:58Had
45:58It all
46:01Everyone
46:02Thought
46:02Jane
46:03Was the perfect mother
46:04With her brood
46:05Around her
46:08Why do you say
46:10Jean
46:10And not mum
46:19It's
46:20Complicated
46:26Jean
46:27Controlled
46:27Everyone
46:28In the house
46:30I would just
46:31Keep my mouth shut
46:35I
46:36Didn't want
46:37Or need her attention
46:39It's
46:40It's
46:40Just
46:42Safer not to
46:47When
46:48I saw
46:48The truth
46:49About Meg
46:50And Jean
46:50I felt
46:52Like
46:54It's
46:55Not just
46:56Me
46:58There's
46:59Other people
46:59Out there
47:00Not falling
47:01For this
47:02Crap
47:07This is
47:08Really
47:08Quite
47:09Dramatic
47:12Nina
47:13Would tell
47:14Me
47:14Various
47:14Stories
47:15About
47:16Growing
47:16Up
47:16It was
47:17It was
47:18The biggest
47:18Mindfuck
47:19You can
47:20Imagine
47:24When she
47:25Was pregnant
47:25With me
47:26She sent my dad
47:27Off to
47:28Australia
47:29To see if he
47:30Can find work
47:31With the idea
47:32Of us emigrating
47:32Over there
47:35And whilst
47:36My dad
47:37Was there
47:39She then
47:40Fell in love
47:41With the
47:41Nineteen year old
47:42Son of
47:42The family
47:43Next door
47:43Pinder
47:46Apparently
47:47She used to
47:48Walk around
47:49Heavily pregnant
47:50With me
47:51Wearing saris
47:52Trying to get
47:53His attention
47:55Dad
47:55Kind of
47:55Came back
47:56And she
47:57Kicked that
47:57Out
47:57And moved
47:58Pinder
47:58In
48:07It was the
48:08First time
48:09That we
48:10Had any
48:11Open dialogue
48:12With anybody
48:13Who had any
48:14Insight into
48:15Megan
48:16Jean's
48:17Life
48:18I want to
48:19Know what
48:19Nina knows
48:20I want to
48:20Know the
48:21Truth about
48:22Megan
48:22Jean
48:28When I
48:29Was 12
48:31Meg
48:32Was born
48:35And I've
48:36Got a
48:36Picture here
48:37Which was
48:37The
48:39First day
48:39She came
48:40Home from
48:40Hospital
48:42I was
48:43Just desperate
48:43To have
48:44A photo
48:45To show
48:45My friends
48:48I was
48:49Just
48:50Over the
48:51Moon
48:55I don't
48:56Mean
48:56I don't mean
48:56Woe is
48:57Me way
48:57But like
48:58Jean was
48:59A very
48:59Different
48:59Mum
49:00To Meg
49:00Than she
49:01Was to
49:01Us
49:01This
49:03This is
49:03Megan
49:03And Megan
49:04Is
49:04Two years
49:05And three
49:06Months
49:07Old
49:07Ever
49:08Go
49:08She did
49:13Everything
49:13For Meg
49:14And Meg
49:15Was kind of
49:16Her everything
49:20They lived in West
49:21And Meg wanted to go to Harrods to go and get ice cream
49:25They would go up to Harrods and go and get ice cream
49:27Or you know kind of whatever it is she wanted they would do
49:34But Meg was well and healthy and then kind of about 2008 when Meg was 13 there started to be
49:46oh there was this wrong with her and that wrong with her and then it went on to kind of
49:52these headaches
49:55Jean described it as Meg woke up one morning screaming in agony and then they had to rush away and
50:02eat
50:05I was just done with the lies and eventually I cut off my relationship with him
50:15This had been going on for much longer than we could ever have imagined and I think it was something
50:22of a revelation
50:27Nina had never thought that anybody else would see them for once
50:32What they were
50:35I knew if I dared to say anything publicly I would have been absolutely destroyed by Jean
50:41She would have absolutely come gunning for me
50:46And the bigger they became the more powerful they became the more I was silenced the more I couldn't say
50:54anything because
50:55Who's who's going to believe me over the fairy godmothers who go around sprinkling magic
51:13I'd lost count of how many times I've emailed the Charity Commission
51:18I've been banging on for two years begging them just to freeze the accounts
51:24And then eventually I was invited to London
51:28I took everything and I kind of felt like if they did a thorough investigation they would see
51:34All the money didn't go to sick children that Jean had been spending that money
51:40Starting route to Charity Commission
51:44Finally, bastards stopped the magic
52:05People could no longer deny that Meg and Jean didn't have very legitimate questions to answer
52:13My first thought was, well they're going to be in trouble because they never keep receipts
52:18They're going to be in serious trouble
52:20Like I'd seen that first hand, I'd seen them handing out cash
52:26It was like a tipping point
52:29I thought they were fraudsters
52:31I thought they are not being open about how that charity money is being used
52:39The fundraising stops
52:41The parties stop
52:42No more gifts getting sent out
52:45No more One Direction
52:52I'm just sitting there wondering like
52:53How's she going to get out of this one?
52:56What's she going to do now?
53:00They disappeared from public life
53:02And their prominent place as the Fairy Godmothers
53:08And we kind of down tools and stop I guess
53:15We went back to our own lives
53:19Because for us, there was no more charity fraud
53:24They're not going to be part of any more childhood illnesses communities
53:29There's no more dodgy appeals
53:32We'd exposed it and left them nowhere to go
53:37And then one morning
53:52That was like a real punch in the gut
53:58Oh my god, like what is this about?
54:05It was a Thursday, I was at work
54:09My phone rang
54:11And it was my older sister
54:12And she would have known I was at work
54:14So I kind of picked it up to, you know, to make sure everything was okay
54:21She said, Jean's posted on Facebook
54:28Megan's dead
54:32What?
54:34Absolute shock
54:35Absolute disbelief
54:37So I look at my phone and see the Facebook post
54:42My beautiful princess Meg went to play with all her little friends in heaven last night
54:47Beyond heartbroken
54:50I didn't know what to think or feel
54:55I couldn't process it
54:57I felt sick
55:01Maybe
55:02She actually did have something life-threatening after all
55:07Because
55:08It killed her
55:12Well, I was gobsmacked and I got a message to my friends
55:16Like
55:16Shh
55:18No
55:29It was a really strange mixture of feelings
55:33Obviously incredibly sad
55:36But then also
55:37It was no surprise
55:39At the end of the day
55:40She had a brain tumour
55:41She was very poorly
55:55It just made no sense
55:58We were so convinced at this point
56:00That Megan didn't have a life-threatening illness
56:02And she's only 23
56:06What on earth has happened?
56:11Throughout the day
56:12There was a lot of blame
56:14That came our way
56:21I think Meg would still be alive
56:23If Jo hadn't said what she said
56:27It was almost as though
56:28The more Joanna did
56:32The more ill Meg got
56:34They were out for blood
56:35And they got it
56:41Five days
56:43After Meg died
56:44Jean sent me
56:47And my older sister
56:50An email
56:51And it's like this weird
56:53Diary entry
56:54To Meg
56:56Oh my darling Meg
56:58I have never been a vindictive person
57:01But I hope with all my heart
57:03That the vile people
57:05Responsible for your death
57:06Are so ashamed
57:07At what they have done
57:11I have a plan
57:12I think it's a good one
57:15On Saturday
57:16I forced myself
57:17To go to the travel agents
57:19To see if I could get
57:20A round the world ticket
57:22I will scatter your ashes
57:24In all the places
57:25I know you love
57:28What I'm going to do
57:29What I am going to do
57:30Is sell some of your things
57:32So you can help me pay
57:33For our big adventure
57:37How can anyone think
57:38That as your mum
57:39I would exaggerate
57:41How ill you were
57:43I'm just so devastated
57:44That you had to lose your
57:45This is the line
57:46This is the one
57:48I am just so devastated
57:50That you had to lose your life
57:52For everyone to know
57:53That everything we have ever said
57:55And done has been true
57:59That line really
58:01Stuck out for me
58:04I was just thinking
58:05Well she didn't
58:07She didn't have to die
58:11It made me ask
58:14So many more questions
58:17It made me really start to think
58:21How did Meg die?
58:23What happened to her?
58:27What happened to her?
58:36How did she talk about her?
58:37What happened to her?
58:44How did somebody say
58:44And passed altijd
58:44What happened to her?
58:44What happened to her?
58:45The Meta
58:45In Brazil
58:45That she le Varya
58:45What happened to her?
58:45What happened to her?
58:46The surprise
58:46That she I ran
58:46That she came to her
58:47And let her
58:48What happened to her
59:01Transcription by CastingWords
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