Latest news with #BadNanny
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Bad nanny's chilling note: Scam artist Samantha Cookes who conned vulnerable families wrote disturbing message about death of her baby daughter the day she was due to be adopted
Convicted scam artist Samantha Cookes wrote a disturbing message after the death of her infant daughter in 2008, a new documentary has revealed. Rebecca Fitzgerald, Lucy Hart, Lucy Fitzwilliams, and Sadie Harris are just some of the aliases used by Cookes, the jailed serial fraudster and fantasist with victims in the UK and Ireland. Her story is the subject of a BBC documentary that airs tonight, which seeks to untangle her web of lies over two episodes. But before she became the con artist known by many different names, she was a young mother whose first born - a daughter named Martha Isabel Cookes - tragically died in infancy, on the day she was due to be taken away for adoption. It appeared she never healed from her past as Cookes - who was in March sentenced to three years in prison for scamming the state of €60,000 in welfare benefits - penned a note denying she had any role in Martha's death. 'I stand shoulder to shoulder with the coroner that I did not murder my daughter,' Cookes, then 23, wrote in a diary that would be discovered by one of her victims who has shared her story in the documentary titled 'Bad Nanny'. The scamster was referring to the inquest that found her four-month-old daughter had died due to accidental suffocation. Cookes' declaration she did not 'murder' Martha stood out because at no point was there any such accusation against her. Cookes, who had at least five different identities, was living as a disability activist Carrie Jade Williams and posted a TikTok in 2022 that ultimately led to her downfall. 'I stand shoulder to shoulder with the coroner that I did not murder my daughter,' Cookes, then 23, wrote in a diary that would be discovered by one of her victims who has shared her story in the documentary titled 'Bad Nanny' The 'sickfluencer' who used the platform to share her experiences living with the terminal Huntington's Disease found herself in the spotlight after she claimed she was being sued for €450,000 by her 'ableist' Airbnb guests in a now-viral video. There was an outpouring of sympathy for the disability activist on social media - until the world learned the truth behind the video. 'Carrie' wasn't real and neither were the heartless Airbnb guests the internet was looking for. The video went onto expose Cookes as a notorious scam artist with a long history of conning vulnerable families out of thousands of pounds while posing as someone qualified to look after children. Before she became Carrie in 2022, Cookes was autism therapist Rebecca in 2017, au pair Lucy Hart in 2014, and a surrogate mother called Claudia in 2010. In 2008, however, she was still Samantha, 20-year-old whose daughter Martha Isabel Cookes died in infancy under mysterious circumstances. An inquest into the baby's death in 2009 revealed that Martha died due to 'accidental' suffocation when a V-shaped pillow wrapped around the baby's neck while her mother was sleeping. It was at this point Cookes made the statement later found by Layla, a mother-of-two living in Tullamore, who was one of her first victims. Layla hired 'Lucy Hart' to look after her two children after finding the fake profile on an au pair website in 2014. Speaking on the documentary, Layla revealed she didn't carry out any background checks on 'Lucy' and 'took her at face value' after they bonded over both being English women living in Ireland. 'She was Mary Poppins,' Layla said as her daughter Charlie, who also appeared in the documentary, described 'Lucy' as a 'big ball of fun'. Layla explained how 'Lucy' regaled them with stories about her life as she was always looking to orchestrate a 'wow' moment. The mother-of-two recalled 'Lucy' telling her was adopted and that her mother Jane Hart manufactured sandpaper for B&Q. Around the same time that Cookes entered their home as Lucy, the family were grappling with rising rent prices while looking for somewhere to live. 'Lucy', who claimed to be a Jehovah's Witness, said a church elder had offered to let them live in a more affordable home in the area. After packing up their home and handing in their notice with the landlord, the family prepared for a move to the new property. However, every time Layla asked 'Lucy' whether they could view their new house, 'there was always an excuse', she said. It would become clear as day 'Lucy' had conned them after she pretended to faint at a Tesco while they were en-route to view the house, as Layla said: 'Why didn't I pick up on this sooner? There is no house.' 'Lucy' disappeared pretty quickly after this incident, telling the family she was going on a 'writers retreat'. As Layla began clearing up 'Lucy's' room, she discovered the ominous note that made her blood run cold. 'I stand shoulder to shoulder with the coroner, and I did not murder my daughter,' it read. 'I pray she is at peace Speaking on the documentary through tears, Layla said: 'Who have we had looking after our children?' She continued: 'She never mentioned any children to me, that she has ever had any children, that's strange, very strange. 'As a parent leaving my children in her care, if I had known for one second that she had children things would have been a whole lot different. 'I would warn anyone about her, don't let her in your home, don't let her in.' Martha's father was one of Cookes' former boyfriends, who remained anonymous for the documentary as he opened up about their toxic relationship in 2007. They were both 18 years old when they started dating, but he claimed he ended the relationship when he began to spot Cookes's pattern of lying. However, she revealed she was pregnant with his child and began bombarding him with messages and calls. He said: 'Was it real, was it a tactic? That whole "being in a family" thing was a real wish for her, it was something she would have referred to. 'The whole period is not something I look on with much pride. My involvement in pregnancy was next to zero really. There was going to be an adoption.' In July 2008, Cookes gave birth to Martha but she tragically died on the same day she was to be given up for adoption. The father said: 'I found out that baby Martha had died from a local newspaper report. There had been this death on the day that Martha was going to be taken. Those details do raise questions for me.' In 2013, the circumstances into baby Martha's death were to be re-examined by the high court due to concerns over her death - however by this point, Cookes had been reported as a missing person to UK police after she fled to Ireland. The case was closed and Martha's 2009 accidental cause of death still stands today. In 2010, Cookes started a relationship with a man, whose identity is not being revealed to protect him and his family. The pair had a child. The same year, Cookes, then 23, offered her services as a surrogate on Facebook. After making contact with a couple about being their surrogate, she passed on the contact of a woman called Claudia, who had previously used her as a surrogate. Claudia gave the excited couple a glowing review of Samantha. Having never met her face-to-face, the couple gave Cookes £1,200 out of their savings to cover the cost of the insemination kit, legal fees and other expenses. Sadly the baby never came, and as both Cookes and Claudia avoided the couple's messages, they realised they had been duped. The police were contacted and a 23-year-old woman was arrested at her home in Shropshire. The case came to trial in 2011 and Cookes pleaded guilty to fraud. She received a suspended sentence of nine months in prison and a fine of £1,890 to be paid to the couple. But what the trial also revealed was that Cookes was Claudia - her first fake persona. Meanwhile in 2012, her second child was taken away from her due to welfare concerns. Social services requested a psychological assessment of Cookes and she was diagnosed with Pseudologia Fantastica. PF, also known as pathological lying or mythomania, is a mental disorder characterised by persistent, pervasive, and often compulsive lying. In 2013 she became pregnant with her third child with the same man. Determined not to lose custody of this unborn child, Cookes fled to Ireland in the winter of 2013 and delivered the baby in January 2014. However, a neighbour reported her to Irish social services and the child was taken into care. After appearing at Irish family court, the father was again given custody and the baby was transported back to the UK. By August 2014, she had lost custody of both her living children after Martha's death six years ago. A month later she had changed her name to Lucy Hart and was working for Layla as an au pair. In January 2015, she left Layla's home under the pretense of attending a writer's retreat after her lies were discovered. In 2016, Cookes moved to County Geery and became Lucy Fitzwilliam and in 2017, Rebecca Fitzgerald arrived in Fermoy. In 2019, she became disability activist Carrie Jade Williams, a prize-winning writer, autism guru and terminal illness sufferer who posted routinely about being diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. The fraudster went viral on TikTok in 2022 after claiming to havebeen sued by Airbnb guests because they couldn't stand to be around a disabled person, leaving millions outraged for her. The story even started the #thisworldcanbeaccessible trend. But the it was later revealed that the story was completely made up, and Carrie was outed on a podcast called Carrie Jade Does Not Exist, which is hosted by VICE journalist Kat Denkinson and comedian Sue Perkins. In 2024, she was discovered working as au pair Sadie Harris in rural Ireland for a family of six - having rebranded as a 'conservative Christian' who 'doesn't think women should wear trousers'. She is believed to have worked for family for six months before fleeing once their child's school alerted them to her true identity. In March 2025, Cookes was jailed in Ireland for deception and theft charges after she claimed thousands in welfare benefits for a terminal illness that turned out not to exist.
Daily Mirror
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
BBC true crime series unveils 'Bad Nanny' who scammed vulnerable families
Serial con-artist Samantha Cookes assumed multiple identities and made up wild stories. BBC's documentary tonight sheds a light on the true crime case Like an evil Mary Poppins, serial con-artist Samantha Cookes posed as a nanny and scammed families with disabled children - even taking their money for a fake trip to Lapland. Gripping two-parter Bad Nanny (Tues 8th July, BBC1, 10.45pm) rakes over all the shocking details of this true crime case, that saw Cookes assume multiple identities, including a child therapist, an arts teacher and a surrogate mother, to con families in the UK and Ireland between 2011 and 2024. She even posed on TikTok as Carrie Jade Williams, a terminally ill woman and disability activist, winning the sympathy and support of thousands. But when one of her posts went viral, some followers became suspicious and began to dig, discovering her real name was Samantha Cookes, a fraud with multiple aliases and a troubling history. Speaking for the first time, Katie and Luke in North Yorkshire describe how she posed as a surrogate mother, defrauding them of their savings. Mother-of-three Layla describes how she believed she was hiring 'Lucy Hart', a Mary Poppins-like au pair at their home in County Offaly. When Layla became suspicious, 'Lucy' vanished, leaving an ominous note that left Layla fearing for her children. And Dublin mums Lorraine and Lynn reveal how they hired 'Lucy Fitzwilliams' as a child therapist for their disabled children, eventually handed over desposits for a fake trip to Lapland. 'Lucy' also told wild stories, pretending she was the 3M company heiress and was set to marry a pastor. Lorraine says: 'She took advantage of people's trust and their emotions and vulnerability.' Bad Nanny is airing on BBC One tonight at 10.45pm There's plenty more on TV tonight - here's the best of the rest... TRAINWRECK: THE REAL PROJECT X, NETFLIX The Trainwreck documentary series revisits headline-making events that went terribly wrong. This latest instalment recounts what happened when a teen's birthday invite accidentally went viral on Facebook, leading to a full-blown riot. In 2012, a teenage girl in the small Netherlands town of Haren created a Facebook event for her sixteenth birthday party, but made the page public instead of private. Inspired by a love of the Hollywood movie Project X, which saw three high school seniors throw a party that spiralled out of control, Dutch teenagers made the event go viral, and soon thousands of people had RSVP'd. Despite warnings, police and local authorities didn't seem to think that anyone would turn up, so no provisions were made to entertain the 3,000 young people who arrived in Haren. Before long the quiet Dutch town became host to a night of drunken chaos, the birthday girl fled her home and riot police were deployed. If it wasn't true, you'd never believe it… SHARKS UP CLOSE WITH BERTIE GREGORY, NAT GEO WILD, 8pm Wildlife filmmaker Bertie Gregory is a braver man than most as he gets extremely up close to some scary-looking sharks. Arriving on the coast of South Africa, he says: 'I have dived with a lot of sharks around the world, but I have never seen the most famous and the most feared - the Great White. I'm going to try something that my mum really doesn't want me to do. I'm going to dive with a Great White Shark without a cage.' There is only one place where this is possible, thanks to its shallow waters, which prevent sharks from attacking from below, and clear visibility, which allows the team to see the predators coming. It still doesn't feel completely reassuring. Bertie works alongside local shark spotters, a community-led initiative developed in response to past fatal shark attacks. Their shared mission is to explore how humans and Great White sharks might coexist in these waters. With a cage, I'd suggest… A YORKSHIRE FARM, 5, 7pm As a new series kicks off, farmers Rob and Dave Nicholson pick sloes from their farm hedgerows before turning them into artisanal chocolate. JB Gill takes a trip to the rolling hills of Wales, visiting a farmer who is reaping the rewards from a rather unusual diversification - he's making medicine from daffodils. And on his farm in the Cotswolds, Adam Henson works hard looking after his native pigs, which are some of the rarest breeds in the UK. EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7.30pm Joe is fearful as the harassment campaign against him continues with an envelope containing a blackmail demand for £100,000 being placed in the Home Farm kitchen. Unsure of who else to trust, Joe shows the blackmail demand to Sam, but he's none-the-wiser. When Ross confronts Robert about the missing weed, Robert threatens to cancel the land deal with Moira, forcing Ross to back down. Forced to take Gabby's car to Kammy at the garage, Vinny faces unavoidable questions about his sexuality.
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Mother reveals chilling note she found exposing the fraudster who had been posing as a nanny to her three children - and the dark secret she'd been hiding
A mother-of-three has recalled the chilling moment she discovered a note revealing the dark secret of the scammer she'd hired as a nanny after she'd fled the family home. Layla, from Tullamore in County Offaly, Ireland, hired a woman called Lucy Hart to look after her children in 2015 - at the time believing her to be a 'Mary Poppins-style' au pair. However, Lucy Hart was just an alias masking the nanny's chequered past - her real name was Samantha Cookes. Under different guises, Samantha, originally from Gloucestershire claimed to be an award-winning writer, expert in autism and also said she was suffering from a terminal illness - and was eventually exposed to have had six different false identities including Carrie Jade Williams. Cookes was jailed for three years in March after pleading guilty to two counts of deception and 16 sample theft charges, having snagged government welfare payments. Now for the first time, some of Cookes' victims are speaking out about their traumatic experiences in a two-part documentary made by BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ, Bad Nanny. One such victim is Layla, who got on well with Cookes when she first hired her as a nanny for her three children. However, before long, cracks began to show in the scammer's squeaky-clean image. When she and her family began to ask questions about 'Lucy's' background, the scammer disappeared - telling them she was going on a 'writers' retreat'. However, while vanished into thin air, Cookes left behind an ominous note which Layla discovered - and it left her fearing for her children's safety. Samantha's note read: 'I stand shoulder to shoulder with the coroner that I did not murder my daughter.' Speaking on the documentary through tears, Layla said: 'Who have we had looking after our children?' After finding Samantha on a nanny website, Layla, who is originally from the UK, revealed they got on 'like a house on fire'. She claimed they bonded because they were both English women living in Ireland, which also led to a false sense of security with 'Lucy'. The mother claimed she didn't do any background checks on the woman she hired to look after her children because she 'took her at face value'. The children appeared to love their new nanny and the family got on well for a number of months until a few red flags started to appear. With rising rent prices, the family were struggling and 'Lucy', who claimed to be a Jehovah's Witness, said a church elder had offered to let them move into a more affordable home in the area. After packing up their home and handing in their notice with the landlord the family prepared for a move to the new property. Under different guises, Samantha, originally from Gloucestershire claimed to be an award-winning writer, expert in autism and also said she was suffering from a terminal illness - and was eventually exposed to have had six different false identities including Carrie Jade Williams However there was always an excuse as to why they couldn't view the inside of the home. Layla said: 'Each time we asked if there was any way we could go and view the place, there was always an excuse. 'One particular day when we were driving past the house there was a gentleman standing in the garden, so we were like great! But all of a sudden she started to feel ill. 'She was like I really need to use the bathroom is there anyway I could use the restrooms. We were parked in the car park and she went upstairs, the two girls went with her. 'Then my two children came running downstairs telling me that she collapsed in Tesco.' This was a 'lightbulb moment' for Layla who realised that 'Lucy' was lying about the new property. She said: 'Why didn't I pick up on this sooner? There is no house.' 'Lucy' disappeared pretty quickly after this incident, telling the family she was going on a 'writers retreat'. Layla said: 'I had to clear up her room, I started pulling things out of her wardrobe and found a notebook.' A line in the notebook read: 'I stand shoulder to shoulder with the coroner that I did not murder my daughter.' She continued: 'She never mentioned any children to me, that she has ever had any children, that's strange, very strange. 'As a parent leaving my children in her care, if I had known for one second that she had children things would have been a whole lot different. 'I would warn anyone about her, don't let her in your home, don't let her in.' One of Cookes' former boyfriends, who remained anonymous for the documentary, opened up about his toxic relationship with Samantha in 2007. They were both 18 years old when they started dating, but he claimed he ended the relationship when he began to spot her pattern of lying. However, Samantha revealed she was pregnant with his child and she bombarded him with messages and calls. He said: 'Was it real, was it a tactic? That whole 'being in a family' thing was a real wish for her, it was something she would have referred to. 'The whole period is not something I look on with much pride. My involvement in pregnancy was next to zero really. There was going to be an adoption.' In July 2008, Samantha gave birth to her first child, Martha Isabel Cookes, however the child died on the day she was due to be given up for adoption. The father said: 'I found out that baby Martha had died from a local newspaper report. There had been this death on the day that Martha was going to be taken. Those details do raise questions for me.' An inquest into the baby's death in 2009 revealed that Martha died due to 'accidental' suffocation when a V-shaped pillow wrapped around the baby's neck while her mother was sleeping. Four years later in 2013, the circumstances into baby Martha's death were to be re examined by the high court due to concerns over her death - however by this point, Samantha Cookes had been reported as a missing person to UK police. The case was closed and Martha's 2009 accidental cause of death still stands today. Meanwhile in 2012, Samantha's second child was taken away from her due to welfare concerns. Social services requested a psychological assessment of Samantha and she was diagnosed with Pseudologia Fantastica. PF, also known as pathological lying or mythomania, is a mental disorder characterised by persistent, pervasive, and often compulsive lying. In 2016, Hillery Geelan, from Dublin, was struggling with her autistic son Rhys and was 'desperate' for help. Her friend Lorraine recommended Samantha, who at the time posed as a therapist for children with additional needs under the alias Lucy Fitzwilliams. 'Lucy' earned their trust by saying she was setting up a women's refuge and she collected items of clothing, food and money from them. She would call to Hillery's house once a week to help with her son's behaviour. Hillery said: 'I didn't know enough about occupational therapy to know this is wrong.' Soon 'Lucy' started collecting money for a bogus trip to Lapland, and a few women gave her a deposit of €400. However the friends started to question 'Lucy' when her lies started to become more bizarre and extreme. They couldn't find any evidence of her women's refuge- nor could they find any social media pages for Lucy Fitzwilliams. Lynn McDonald, from Dublin, also hired Samantha, who was still under the alias of Lucy Fitzwilliams, to help with her daughter Ellie. But in 2022, high on her success as an online disability activist, Carrie told a lie that would eventually unravel her web of deception She was introduced to the scammer by a friend when she was experiencing a difficult time and needed more support. Lynn's younger daughter, Daisy, was born in 2013 with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects brain development, resulting in severe mental and physical disability. In her guise as a child therapist, Samantha visited twice a week to give Ellie, Lynn's older daughter, one-on-one time. 'There was definitely a bond of trust. Ellie was trusting her with her secrets and her worries,' Lynn said. 'I don't think anybody, when they met her, knew what's really underneath that skin.' Ahead of the fake Lapland trip, Samantha was pushing Lynn to sign paperwork that would allow her to take Ellie out of the country as a guardian. 'My massive concern with that is, if a woman has consent from me to take my child out of the country, then my child is at risk of being abducted.' The bond soon unravelled after Lynn and others discovered she was a scam artist. Samantha fled, leaving Lynn worried 'she would come back in the middle of the night and take my child'. She added: 'I slept with a hatchet beside my bed.' Hillery added: 'We never heard from Lucy again, no more phone calls, no more Lapland, we had just been scammed. We lived in fear for a very log time.' In 2021, it appeared that Samantha changed her identity yet again, this time under the alias Carrie Jade Williams, a terminally-ill award-winning author. She said she had been diagnosed with the terminal illness Huntington's Disease and was living in Kenmare, County Kerry. But in 2022, high on her success as an online disability activist, Carrie told a lie that would eventually unravel her web of deception. She posted a TikTok calling out Airbnb for allegedly siding with guests who had complained about having to use her accessible doorbell. 'I know able-ism exists, and I've experienced it,' she said in a teary video. Carrie claimed the guests, who had stayed at her home, were so 'traumatised by being around her as a disabled person' they had complained to Airbnb - and that Airbnb had instructed her to refund them as a result. The video went viral as people were horrified by the overt display of able-ism and Carrie soon posted a follow-up video - where she claimed the guests were now suing her for 450,000 euros for the trauma caused. They also allegedly slapped her with a list of 13 bizarre demands to cope with the trauma, including an emotional support animal and 25 adult colouring books a year for the remainder of their lives. However on October 5, 2022, an anonymous Reddit user posted links to articles about a convicted fraudster - whom they claimed was Carrie. Carrie issued a statement saying this was in fact her sister who had struggled with mental health problems and that it was defamatory for anyone to link the pair. This led VICE journalist Kat Denkinson and comedian Sue Perkins to investigate the story in podcast Carrie Jade Does Not Exist and over the course of two months, they uncovered the truth. Carrie Jade did not exist. As people began to clock on to Samantha's lies, she disappeared from her home in Kenmare in 2023. However, four months after she was exposed in Kenmare, the podcast received an email from a woman claiming Samantha was 'exposed as a fake person' in her town of Kildare, she was hiding behind the new alias of Sadie Harris. The email read: 'Hi, I just came across your podcast and this woman has been living in our community and going to the same church as me. She has been exposed as a fake person yesterday. 'As far as we can tell she hasn't committed any crimes but understandably this has shaken many people, she has been going by the name Sadie Harris, living in Ireland, working as an au pair.' Samantha joined a local church and was posing as a 'deeply conservative Christian woman' who didn't believe that woman should wear trousers and she claimed to have baptised 150 sex workers in a Dublin hotel. A woman Samantha befriended while in Kildare wrote into the podcast to say she thought she was 'generous and kind' but, after listening to the podcast, felt guilty for letting the fraudster around her children. She added: 'My kids new her and they were comfortable with her. Something that is hitting me now in hindsight is that everything had a story to it, even her Birthday which was on Day. 'She had this story that when he was a kid she thought St. Patrick's Day was about her. She said she was going to buy a building space and run toddler classes and asked of I would help her with it. 'Even now knowing everything was a lie, I still genuinely miss the friendship I thought we had, I miss the person I thought she was. It's strange to process losing someone who never existed.' Earlier this year the fraudster was sentenced to three-years in prison for scamming the state of €60,000. Samantha had been jailed in Ireland for deception and theft charges after she claimed thousands in welfare benefits for a terminal illness that turned out not to exist. In March the sentencing judge on the case, Judge Ronan Munro, accused her 'cynically exploiting' the 'natural goodness' in people and for deliberately lying about having the degenerative disease. Samantha pleaded guilty to two counts of deception and 16 sample theft charges, having snagged government welfare payments. She later also cashed in for disability allowance between February 28th, 2020 and June 12th last year. While at Tralee Circuit Criminal Court in Ireland, Judge Munro claimed her plan had been 'carefully orchestrated' to grift cash, having amassed a €60,334 over almost four years through 238 different payments. A number of aggravating factors made her case yet more heinous, with the judge describing her 'determined and sophisticated effort to perpetuate the fraud'. In 2020, she claimed to the Department of Social Protection that she was suffering with both Huntington's disease and epilepsy, insisting that her prognosis was life-limiting and would prove terminal. But Samantha claimed that she was unable to provide evidence of her illness to the department because of Covid, a factor which the court said essentially allowed her to continue abusing the system while going undetected. In a letter to the department said she was being discriminated against because she was unable to hold or use a pen as a result of her illness. She even went as far as to approach a GP to ask them to help fill out her forms so she get her hands on the government payouts, claiming she was struggling to have a grip of things, use the stairs or shower. Believing her symptoms true, the GP was led to fill out a form saying Samantha had previously been diagnosed with the disease - despite this being far from the case. The gardaí finally cottoned onto the deception after being alerted by department officer to her medical records, which revealed that Samantha had failed to turn up to appointments and scans ordered by the GP - and had no genetic testing for the condition. Judge Munro said the GP was 'blameless', having only done her best to do her job by sending the fraudster to appointments and scans. The judge also revealed that in the run up to the trial, Samantha had written to him trying to claim that she had been suffering with psychosis, even saying she would rather be euthanised than live with the mental illness - despite there being no medical evidence to point this being true. The judge said the self-diagnosis would bear no weight, adding that plenty of those suffering from mental health issues 'don't engage in this type of behaviour'. Samantha was initially sentenced to four years in prison but this was cut by 12-months so she could seek treatment, as she had implied she would. She was also given an additional two-year sentence for a second deception charge and concurrent sentences for theft charges. The judge said it was a serious offence to abuse the public system, but took into account some extenuating factors including her experiences with child loss. The sentences have been backdated to July last year, when she first went into custody after being arrested outside Tralee Post Office. At the time Cookes has been living under a false name for the prior 18-months. Bad Nanny will be available on BBC iPlayer from Monday 12 May, 9pm.
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
RTÉ News
12-05-2025
- RTÉ News
Making Bad Nanny: how we uncovered the truth behind 'Carrie Jade'
Bad Nanny is a jaw-dropping two-part RTÉ documentary that unravels the astonishing true story of Samantha Cookes - serial scammer, master manipulator, and at one point, a trusted nanny. Below, Bad Nanny director Alan Bradley introduces a wild true tale you really couldn't make up... I first came across Samantha Cooke's story in a small article in the Irish Independent. The headline alone stopped me in my tracks - a woman accused of faking a terminal illness to defraud people. It felt too outrageous to be true. But the more I read, the more astonishing the story became. This wasn't a one-off con; it was a sprawling, years-long web of deception stretching across Ireland and the UK. The scale of it was staggering. It read like a thriller - except it was all real. What struck me early on was how many people had been affected. Through some online digging, I found Lynn, one of Samantha's victims based in Dublin. She introduced me to an extraordinary group - a loose collective of Samantha's victims, many of them mothers, who had connected online and become a kind of informal investigation unit. Through WhatsApp chats and TikTok threads, they had spent years piecing together Samantha's movements, aliases, and scams. They had quietly become the keepers of the truth, determined to stop others from falling into the same trap. Beyond the twists and turns of the story, what stayed with me most was what it revealed about us as a society. Despite their efforts, they felt largely ignored and dismissed, by authorities, and by the media. I knew instantly this was a story that deserved more attention. Not because it was lurid, but because of what it revealed about the cracks in our systems, and the resilience of ordinary people who refused to be silenced. At the time we began filming, Samantha had vanished. Given the coverage her story had already received, I assumed she had left Ireland. But then, in February 2024, we discovered she had in fact been living under a new identity as a nanny in Celbridge. With that came another wave of revelations, more victims, more lies, more lives upended. With every layer we uncovered, another seemed to emerge. Structuring the documentary was one of the biggest creative challenges. Samantha operated under multiple aliases over a decade, spinning a different persona each time -a nanny/ au pair, a psychologist, a terminally ill author, a play therapist. Her backstories often contradicted one another and determining the actual truth required some real focus! We had to find a clear, coherent way through the chaos so that viewers could follow along. Central to this was giving the narrative back to those she deceived. I wanted them to tell the story in their own words, not just as victims, but as the people who ultimately exposed her. Many contributors were understandably nervous. Some still feared Samantha, others were deeply affected by their experiences. Creating a space where they felt safe and supported to share their story was paramount. It was a long process, but one I felt was essential to doing justice to their voices. As we were filming, RTÉ's The Real Carrie Jade podcast began releasing episodes weekly, sparking a new wave of public interest in the case. It was surreal to watch people react in real-time to a story we were still actively investigating. I'm hugely grateful to producers of the podcast Liam O'Brien and Ronan Kelly, who generously shared new tips and leads as they came in from listeners. In many ways, making the documentary evolved into a live investigation, one that kept unfolding until the very end. But beyond the twists and turns of the story, what stayed with me most was what it revealed about us as a society. Samantha found her opportunities by targeting the gaps, families of children with additional needs struggling to access support, parents desperate for childcare, the disabled community. She presented herself as a psychologist, a role not protected by law in Ireland. In doing so, she exploited the very people already navigating the most difficult circumstances. Ireland is, at its best, a place built on trust and community. But that very trust can leave us exposed when someone with bad intentions gains a foothold. Samantha's story is not just one of deceit, it's a lens on the vulnerabilities within our systems, and how easily someone can exploit them. And yet, this project didn't leave me cynical. Far from it. The people affected by Samantha, those who appear in the series, are some of the most resilient, thoughtful, and generous individuals I've met. They didn't come forward out of revenge. They simply wanted others to be protected. As Lorraine says in Episode 2, "I still trust people. You'll only ever meet one Samantha Cookes." Making this series reminded me that even in the face of deception, kindness and solidarity endure. And that sometimes, the most powerful stories aren't just about what happened, but about the people who refused to stay silent.
