Serial con artist Charlotte Blackwell, 31, faked flight documents and hotel bookings for a wedding abroad in a bid to con her fiancee’s family out of thousands, a court heard
A bogus bride-to-be faked a wedding abroad to con cash from family and friends – before using it to pay off online bingo debts.
Serial con artist Charlotte Blackwell, 31, came up with a series of money frauds after getting engaged to partner Daniel Thomas following a five-year relationship. But the estate agent used the engagement as cover to plan a bogus wedding overseas to scam family and friends out of cash. A court heard she created fake flight documents and hotel bookings so unsuspecting guests would hand over £12,682. Her victims included future mother-in-law Paula Thomas along with family friends Helen Morse, Sue Chapman and Tracey Roberts.
Prosecutor Anisha Rai said Blackwell admitted to police she had been “falsely arranging” a wedding when she was arrested. She told officers: “I’m sorry, it was to pay off debts and gambling. I have now put a block to all sites.”
Cardiff Crown Court heard Ms Thomas paid £3,296, Ms Morse paid £3,311, Ms Chapman paid £3,272 and Ms Roberts paid £2,803. Miss Rai said: “In March 2024 it was Ms Morse who made enquiries with the travel agents, TUI. When she provided the booking reference the defendant had given her, she was informed the reference related to a different holiday for an elderly couple that took place the year prior.
“Following this, the defendant sent the victims fake booking confirmations which had been made to look like genuine TUI documents. She provided them with fake flight confirmations, fake emails from travel agents and fake bank transactions. She created fake email accounts to make it seem she had been communicating with agents.
“Ms Morse suspected something was not right with the documents from travel agents as there were spelling mistakes. She took them to the travel agents who confirmed they were fraudulent documents.”
The court heard mother-of-two Blackwell avoided jail last August for another fraud when she tried to con children’s cancer charity Morgan’s Army out of £4,000. She received a suspended 10-month sentence after lying to the charity that her daughter needed treatment in Germany when she was really in remission from cancer.
The court heard the cases should have been dealt with together but they were not “linked up” by the court due to an error with her date of birth. In a victim impact statement, Ms Chapman, said: “I find myself unable to sleep at night and anxious paying for anything in case I lose more money. I am unable to trust people. I cannot believe a close family friend would do this.”
Blackwell, of Bridgend, South Wales, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud over the wedding con. Defending Alice Sykes said: “She has shown huge remorse. She was going through a difficult time after her daughter had been diagnosed with brain cancer.
“She gave up work to deal with the money issues that came with that and gambled to try to get money back. She then placed blocks on websites to prevent gambling and has taken steps to prevent that happening again. She has two children aged 10 and three. She works full-time as an estate agent earning £1,700 a month and receives Universal Credit. She is willing to pay the money back and has been doing so.”
The court heard Blackwell had paid £1,200 to her ex-fiancé Mr Thomas to “disperse that to the victims” but he had yet to do so. Judge Jonathan Rees KC slammed the “fiction” and “pack of lies” by Blackwell in her “shameful” frauds.
He said her chances of avoiding prison had benefited from the two sets of offences being dealt with separately. The judge said she had been open about “accruing a large amount of debt” although he believed she had “underplayed the role of gambling”.
Blackwell was handed a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months, a further 120 hours of unpaid work and five days of rehabilitation activity. He also ordered Blackwell pay £3,500 in compensation to each of Ms Thomas, Ms Chapman and Ms Morse, and £3,250 to Ms Roberts, to “reflect the additional aggravation and distress you caused.”
Morgan’s Army was set up by the parents of Morgan Ridler who died of cancer aged three. Blackwell targeted the charity just months after Morgan’s death in June 2023 when she was provided with £4,000 for treatment her daughter supposedly needed.
Morgan’s mother Natalie Ridler, from Swansea, said: “It transpired that some years ago, a child of the individual had suffered with cancer and was treated at Noah’s Ark [children’s hospital] which was why they slipped through our initial checks.
“However, they had been in remission for some time with no active treatment, no terminal prognosis, and were in layman’s terms ‘all clear’.” She added that Blackwell had “preyed on us at one of our most vulnerable periods”.
