Latest news with #Cookes
Sunday World
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
‘There was no baby and she got off scot-free' — couple duped by fraudster in surrogacy ordeal
Victims believed they had 'won the lottery' when Cookes offered to help them on their journey to parenthood The first victims of convicted serial fraudster Samantha Cookes have spoken about how they believed they had 'won the lotto' when she came forward offering to be a surrogate for their baby after years of failed attempts to conceive or adopt a child. English couple Katie and Luke have said they paid up to £5,000 (€5,900) to Samantha Cookes in 2011 before they realised she was lying about being a surrogate mother for their child. Cookes (36) was convicted earlier this year of welfare fraud and theft in Kerry after she was exposed by people on TikTok for using a string of aliases in Ireland over the last decade to work as an au pair and a writer. Under the name Carrie Jade Williams, Cookes won a number of writing awards for penning a false story that she was dealing with a terminal brain disease. Her true identity was revealed when her conviction for defrauding a couple over a fake surrogacy in England was uncovered. A new two-part joint RTÉ/BBC documentary, Bad Nanny, has tracked Cookes' persistent lying and criminal past in England and across Ireland over the last 15 years. Katie and Luke in a scene from 'Bad Nanny' In 2011, she avoided a jail term after being found guilty of defrauding Katie and Luke after they turned to her as a surrogate. In her interview for the documentary, Katie said she regarded Cookes as a 'very dangerous person'. She said she believed the fraud and deceptions perpetrated by Cookes were 'sick'. Katie spoke about the 'hardship' she and her husband went through while trying to have a baby. 'We tried different avenues,' she said in a tearful interview. 'We'd gone down the route of adoption. We've gone down fostering. We've gone through a series of IVF treatments. It kept on failing and failing.' The couple are pictured in the programme, but have asked that their surname not be disclosed. Katie said they were desperate and put a notice up seeking help online. Cookes responded to say she would be willing to help Katie said they were 'desperate' and put a notice up seeking help online. Cookes responded to say she would be willing to help. 'It was fantastic,' said Katie. 'It was almost like being on cloud nine. You won the lottery. You were finally going to get that family that you really, really wanted.' Katie said Cookes was 'very kind, warm-hearted, delicate'. She told them she had been a surrogate for another couple and had produced a girl. The couple agreed to pay her up to £5,000 for 'insurance' and 'other bits and pieces' she needed during the pregnancy. However, the couple said Cookes 'started to slip up' and became evasive when they asked about their contract. Eventually, when Katie asked to see the contract, Cookes became 'threatening'. Her husband Luke phoned the police and it all came crashing down. 'There was no baby,' said Katie. 'And then next thing we know is she's been arrested.' Speaking about the nine-month suspended sentence Cookes received, Luke said it was like she got off scot-free and with a slap on the wrist Speaking about the nine-month suspended sentence Cookes received, Luke said it was like she got off 'scot-free' and with a 'slap on the wrist'. Cookes was ordered to repay the couple £1,890 in £20-per-month instalments but the payments were 'rare'. Luke said although Cookes told the court she had learned her lesson and that she would never do it again 'she found other avenues and different channels to go down, to defraud people'. Katie said Cookes would keep defrauding and lying to people until 'somebody stops her completely'. Katie and Luke have since had children. Cookes is serving a three-year sentence for defrauding €60,000 from the Irish State in welfare payments. She has also been convicted of stealing furniture from her former landlord in Kenmare, Co Kerry. Samantha Cookes In 2019, she was convicted of carrying out an assessment of a child in Cork while posing as a child psychologist. Four offences of theft, three relating to a fake Lapland trip, were taken into consideration when she was given a suspended sentence. One of the women who signed a consent form for Cookes to bring her child abroad on the non-existent Lapland trip told the documentary that she slept with a hatchet beside her bed. She was worried Cookes would attempt to abduct her child. Alan Bradley, the director of Bad Nanny, said there was still a 'definite fear' among the many people he had interviewed about their experiences with Cookes under her various aliases. 'In many of the cases there was not a huge financial gain for her so the families question why she got involved in what were sometimes difficult situations,' he said. 'The confusion adds to the fear as to what her motivations were and what she could still do.' 'Bad Nanny', directed by Alan Bradley, debuts tonight, May 12, at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player *This article was amended on May 11, 2025, to correct the name of the husband, Luke
Sunday World
11-05-2025
- Sunday World
New doc reveals how serial con artist ‘struck fear into the hearts' of women she deceived
'I was scared that she would come back in the middle of the night and take my child. I slept with a hatchet beside my bed The Irish mothers who saw the dark heart of serial con artist Samantha Cookes have revealed how they were duped by her lies. New two-part documentary Bad Nanny follows the fantasies spun by Cookes, who preyed on the desperation or vulnerability of families. She was given a three-year jail sentence earlier this year for a €60,000 benefit fraud but her criminal history goes back to 2011 when she was convicted of fraud for taking almost £5,000 off a couple in Yorkshire in a surrogate baby scam. Despite being exposed as a con artist in 2022 after a bizarre TikTok rant about being sued by Airbnb guests who objected to her non-existent disability, and the subject of podcasts including RTE's The Real Carrie-Jade, Cookes continued to deceive families across Ireland under a series of aliases until last year. When Layla DeJagger encountered Cookes in Tullamore in 2015 she was Lucy Hart, the dream nanny to her family's three children. 'I didn't check for any passports. I didn't call on any references of what she was like. I just took her at face value. She was Mary Poppins,' Layla tells the BBC Northern Ireland documentary. Cookes was also known as Carrie Jade 'The tales she used to tell. Everything that she would mention she's done it bigger and better so you would get the wow factor from her. She said that her mother was the manufacturer for sandpaper for B&Q. You're sitting there and you're thinking 'wow'.' Cookes claimed to be a devout Jehovah's Witness who knew through a contact in her church that it had a house available for a low rent, and Layla's family began to plan their move. 'So we boxed everything up. We gave notice to my landlord and each time we asked 'is there any chance we can go and view the place?' there was always an excuse. 'One particular day she was in the car with us we happened to drive up past the house there was a gentleman standing in the garden and all of a sudden she started to feel ill,' says Layla. Samantha Cookes in Celbridge after she was exposed They rushed her to a local shop where Cookes pretended to collapse, and Layla realised she'd been conned. 'Why didn't I pick up on this sooner? There is no house.' Cookes left the family home soon after and when Layla went to clear her room she made a chilling discovery. 'There was a little index card notebook and I just started to read. In one of her lines she puts, 'I stand shoulder to shoulder with the coroner that I did not murder my daughter'. I just went 'who have we had looking after our children?' 'She never mentioned any children to me, that she's ever had any children, that's' strange, very strange.' In reality, Cookes had three children, two of whom were taken off her by social services, in 2012 in England, and in 2014 in Ireland, when she was arts teacher Sophia Williamson. Cookes was also known as Carrie Jade The terrifying reference Layla found was about baby Martha Cookes, born in 2008, who died at four months old on the day she was due to be handed over for adoption, smothered by pillows as Samantha lay next to her. A coroner ruled the death was accidental. Four years later, the death of baby Martha was to be examined by a judge at Birmingham High Court at the request of Shropshire Council due to concerns about her death. Shortly before the hearing Cookes was reported missing and was in Ireland, living as Sophia Williamson. The accidental death verdict stands. By 2016 Cookes was in Dublin, now Lucy Fitzwilliams, a child therapist who was welcomed into the home of Lynn McDonald, and her two female friends, one of whom had an autistic son. Lynn's daughter Daisy had the rare genetic disorder Rett syndrome and while Cookes was never allowed to be part of her care she did bond over art therapy with older daughter Ellie. Samantha Cookes is now serving a prison sentence News in 90 seconds - 11th May 2025 'She would come twice a week. She gave Ellie the one-on-one that she didn't get with me. That was definitely a bond of trust. Ellie was trusting her with her secrets and her worries. 'I don't think anyone when they meet her know what's underneath that skin,' says Lynn. This time Cookes was an heiress set to inherit €3m. She was opening a women's refuge and Lynn and pals Lorraine and Hillery generously handed over everything from food hampers to baby supplies. But the scammer overreached herself with a Christmas trip to Lapland, when the three friends worked out the cash they'd handed over to her from the tickets they'd sold for the trip would have filled five aircraft, and she also refused to hand over her charity number. When the deception was uncovered, Lynn was most troubled by Cookes' plan to take Ellie to Lapland if Daisy and her mum were unable to travel. 'I was scared that she would come back in the middle of the night and take my child. I slept with a hatchet beside my bed,' says Lynn. A search of the house revealed all the donations the three friends had given Cookes, 15 burner phones, and papers scrawled with Cookes' dark thoughts about children and babies. In 2021 she reappeared in Kenmare as Carrie-Jade Williams, a terminally ill author. But within a year she had over-reached with her Airbnb story, claiming disability discrimination, and the façade fell apart. When she fled in 2023 she left behind another cache of burner phones, fake driving licences, and putrid rubbish in her rented home. But Cookes still didn't give up, reappearing as nanny Sadie Harris in Celbridge, Kildare last year, before the law caught up with her. Mum Layla issues a stark warning to the public about Cookes, who will be out of jail in 2028. 'I would warn anybody about her. Don't let her in your home. Don't let her in,' she says.
Extra.ie
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Couple traumatised by serial con woman Cookes speak out for first time
A 'vulnerable' couple traumatised after they fell victim to serial fraudster Samantha Cookes in a surrogate scam have spoken out for the first time. Cookes, who was jailed for three years at the Central Criminal Court in Tralee in March, is the subject of a new two-part RTÉ documentary, Bad Nanny, that airs from tomorrow night. In the documentary, an English couple, named only as Katie and Luke, told how they believed Cookes – also known as Carrie Jade Williams, Jade O'Sullivan, Jade Cooke, Rebecca Fitzgerald, Lucy FitzWilliams, and Sadie Harris, among others – was carrying their child. Pic: RTÉ Originally from Gloucester, England, Cookes lived in Cahersiveen and Kenmare in Co Kerry for three years to the end of 2022. She also spent time there last year, when she was arrested in Tralee as part of a €60,000 social welfare fraud inquiry that she was later found guilty of. Cookes passed herself off as a child psychologist and expert in child therapy. Several people have fallen victim to Cookes' fantasy stories. In Dublin, families of children with additional needs collected €20,000 for a subsidised trip to Lapland, which never happened. She had also said she planned to open a women's refuge that never came to be. Back in 2011 in the UK, Cookes offered to act as a surrogate mother for the Yorkshire couple who wanted to have a baby after failed IVF treatment. Pic: File Speaking to documentary director Alan Bradley described the surrogacy scam as 'one of the worst things [Cookes] did'. '[Katie and Luke] were so vulnerable. And they're still traumatised by it, you can see it in the show, they're still very impacted,' he said this weekend. In the documentary, the couple tell of how Cookes' 'kind, warm-hearted' demeanour drew them in as they handed over thousands of pounds to the now-infamous con artist. Cookes had claimed to have been a surrogate before, giving birth to a baby girl for another couple. Katie tells the documentary: 'She was asking for money regarding insurance, some bits and pieces she needed during the pregnancy.' Carrie Jade Williams. Some cracks started to appear in her story, as she sketchily avoided attempts to sign a contract. Eventually, the police became involved and 'it all came crashing down' for the desperate couple. 'There was no baby,' said Katie. Filmmaker Bradley said the couple had no idea about what became of Cookes, until contacted by the documentary team. He told 'Katie and Luke didn't know about the story in Ireland. As far as they were concerned, she disappeared. They were shocked. They weren't surprised, I think they hoped she wouldn't hurt anyone else, but the nature of what she did – they were shocked but not surprised.' In 2008, Cookes' first baby, Martha Isobel Cookes, died by suffocation, in circumstances that were ruled accidental back in 2009. The case was reopened in 2013, when Cookes was declared missing from the UK. Using aliases, she travelled to Co. Offaly in 2014, where she tried to defraud several residents. Carrie Jade Williams. In Edenderry, she resurfaced under the name Sophia Williamson and scammed unwitting parents out of thousands of euros, which she said were intended to take their children on a trip to Disneyland Paris. The following year she moved to Tullamore, where she pretended to be a Jehovah's Witness named Lucy Hart and told a family she stayed with that a church elder had offered them a place to live. After packing up and notifying their landlord, the family discovered this new home did not actually exist, and Cookes disappeared again, only to resurface in Dublin. She left behind some belongings, including a diary which included an entry referring to her baby's death that read: 'I stand shoulder to shoulder with the coroner, I did not kill my baby.' In Dublin, Cookes operated under the alias of Lucy FitzWilliams, pretending to offer services as an occupational/play/art therapist for children with special needs and disabilities and conning several families into paying for her services. Bradley said: 'She found cracks in the system, many [of the victims] had disabled children or were on waiting lists, then she popped up and claimed to be exactly what they needed. 'Ireland is a very trusting place, and information is spread through word of mouth and neighbours. It's not something you think would happen here.' Cookes left Dublin for Kenmare, Co. Kerry, in 2022, this time under the alias of Carrie Jade Williams, where she told neighbours she had been diagnosed with the rare degenerative disease known as Huntington's. This lie fooled everyone, even the Financial Times, who awarded first prize to an essay she submitted to a competition run by the esteemed UK newspaper. Cookes even contacted RTÉ to suggest that they make a documentary about her Huntington's journey. As Bradley recalls: 'She reached out to the RTÉ Doc on One podcast, and she said she had this rare disease and she was going to get ground-breaking treatment in America, where they were going to drill a hole into her brain'. Armed with the false diagnosis of Huntington's and a falsified copy of her ID, Cookes scammed the State of almost 238 weekly social welfare payments of €232 each, a total of more than €60,000. Cookes' social media ultimately resulted in her downfall as past victims began to leave comments on her videos like, 'We know who you are' as they banded together. Bradley said: 'I discovered all the victims had a group chat; they were like online sleuths.' Cookes deleted her social media and disappeared from Kenmare, only to resurface as Sadie Harris in Celbridge, Co. Kildare, pretending to be an evangelical Christian. But the law caught up with her in July 2024. This March, she was sentenced to four years in prison, with the final year suspended, after pleading guilty to 18 counts of deception and theft. Bradley said Cookes' victims hope her jail sentence 'will give her time to reflect on her actions. She's also very intelligent, it's just sad that this is what she's chosen to do with that'. Reporting by Kate Lynch
Irish Daily Mirror
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
The 'bad nanny' who fooled families for years until TikTok sleuths took her down
A shocking new two-part documentary airing on RTE One and RTE Player from tomorrow exposes the decade-long deception of Samantha Cookes - a serial scammer who posed as a nanny, author and even a terminally ill patient to con families across Ireland and the UK. Bad Nanny, a co-production between RTE and BBC NI, traces how Cookes - using aliases like Carrie Jade Williams and Sadie Harris - manipulated her way into the lives of vulnerable families and online communities, leaving a trail of devastation in her wake. The first episode, airing Monday, May 12 at 9.35pm, reveals how she faked a terminal illness and claimed to be an award-winning author, all while hiding her true identity and intentions. The series features never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews with her victims - many speaking out publicly for the first time. The second episode, airing Monday, May 19, follows the emotional fallout from her betrayal and the extraordinary grassroots investigation led by a group of determined TikTok sleuths. With help from these digital detectives and brave women who came together to share their stories, Cookes was finally exposed - leading to her conviction in 2025. Grainne McAleer, RTE's Head of Documentaries, called the series "a powerful reminder of the strength of ordinary people" and a cautionary tale for anyone trusting others with their loved ones. She said: "The shocking story of Samantha Cookes and her long list of scams and aliases is an intriguing story that needs to be told on screen. The two-part documentary series lays out this timeline of deceit brilliantly and captures the collective power of ordinary people. From the Tik Tok sleuths to the victims of Samantha's scams that came together to expose her story, Bad Nanny is a story of the power of ordinary people working together. It is also cautionary tale for anyone hiring someone to look after their nearest and dearest. " The story first came to public attention in the hit RTE podcast The Real Carrie Jade. Documentary maker Ronan Kelly returns in the TV adaptation, with an updated podcast episode also released earlier this month. Bad Nanny is produced by Alleycats TV and will be available on RTE Player and BBC iPlayer from Monday, May 12. For the latest news and breaking news visit Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you. Follow us on Twitter @IrishMirror - the official Irish Mirror Twitter account - real news in real time. We're also on Facebook/irishmirror - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Irish Daily Mirror, Irish Sunday Mirror and
Irish Examiner
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Podcast Corner: Tale of Doonmore Hotel on Inishbofin makes for interesting Yarn
We've written about John Roche's podcast Yarn before, talking about the 2021 episode Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, a 90-minute documentary that gave listeners a look at what it's like to serve on a jury. There have only been seven episodes in the intervening years but the mantra is quality over quantity. The Highest Cyclist in the World examined Chris Hoy's 2007 attempt to break the 1km time trial world record on the fastest track on earth. Escape from Madrid tells the story of how Turkish diplomats saved the lives of 1,000 refugees during the Spanish Civil War's longest siege. Judy's Callers was a 10-minute episode released at the start of April to mark the 55th anniversary of the Samaritans' presence in Ireland. The latest episode, released on Thursday, May 1, is called Hotel on the Edge of Europe. Roche and his family have been making an annual pilgrimage to the Doonmore, or Murray's as the locals call it, named after the family who have run it for over half a century, for years. But changes are afoot. Over winter, major renovations have been made, and Roche is among the first members of the general public to experience the revamp. It's part travelogue, part history as we hear how the hotel came to be around the mid-20th century and the fear on the island at the time. Andrew Murray, the hotel manager and previously frontman of trad band De Dannan, explains how there was no electricity and no running water when the hotel first started up - 'You might as well have been on the Antarctic.' Inhabitants at the time worried that they might face the same fate as those on Inishark, who were relocated by the government. The award-winning Irish interior designer Róisín Lafferty is another frequent visitor and was tasked with the renovation of the hotel. She explains the charms of Inishbofin and the Doonmore: 'There's not that many places that feel like an actual escape. I love that there's no pretentiousness, there's no notions, it doesn't matter what you do, who you are.' With archival soundbites intermingling with the buzz of reopening, and the whoosh of waves and blustery wind, the 70-minute episode is a treat. With so many podcasts nowadays aiming for weekly insipid banter, Yarn is a slow, soothing, and rewarding listen. The Real Carrie Jade: A second bonus episode capper to last summer's six-part series from RTÉ Documentary on One about the fraudster Samantha Cookes came out last week. The makers head to a Tralee courthouse in March 2025 as Cookes is to be sentenced for welfare fraud. It's only 10 minutes long but also acts as a tee-up to a two-part documentary about Cookes, entitled Bad Nanny, that debuts on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Monday, May 12. Read More Culture That Made Me: Music maestro David Brophy picks his touchstones
