I Love You to Death on C4: 'Britain's Most Evil Mother' Lisa Hayden-Johnson speaks for the first time after conviction for 'sadistic' lies about her 'sick' son
The Devon mum fabricating her son Matthew's severe illnesses over several years
I Love You to Death reexamines the truly shocking true crime case of Lisa Hayden-Johnson, who faked her son’s illness. She was subsequently convicted of child cruelty and perverting the course of justice.
Over the course of six and a half years, Devon mum Lisa won the nation’s sympathy as she described her son Matthew’s need for life-saving medical care. However, much like the case of Megan Bhari, Lisa was lying.
In court, lawyers said she had subjected her son Matthew to “a regime of medical and psychological torture”. Here, in a new four-part documentary series, Lisa talks for the first time, and insists she “has no regrets” as she was only doing her best for her son.
Meanwhile, her abused son Matthew also reveals his side of the story for the first time. Here’s everything you need to know about the Lisa Hayden-Johnson true crime doc I Love You to Death coming soon to Channel 4.
I Love You to Death reexamines the true crime case of Lisa Hayden-Johnson
Lisa Hayden-Johnson’s son Matthew became accustomed to the media spotlight at a young age. Because of his so-called health problems – including the inability to walk, eat or breathe without assistance – he was often on TV. Notable appearances included a Christmas episode of GMTV. He met celebrities including the Prime Minister, and even received a prestigious bravery award from the now Queen Camilla. And behind him every step of the way was his mother Lisa.
She won the nation’s sympathy as she fundraised for her son Matthew’s medical care. But behind the headlines, questions grew. Medics became suspicious when their efforts didn’t help him. The experts realised that something didn’t add up. After six years, doctors became suspicious of the boy’s lack of symptoms and demanded to perform further testing.
The new documentary I Love You to Death speaks to all those at the heart of the story. Matthew’s sister Laura reveals noticed that life at home was very different to life in the public eye. Now doctors, police and family members reveal the truth of a shocking deception that tore a family apart.
Lisa, once dubbed ‘Britain’s Most Evil Mother’, talks on camera for the first time since her release from prison.
Was Matthew really ‘Britain’s sickest child’?
The short answer is no. Matthew was born prematurely in 2001 and temporarily given a tube for feeding. But, he actually recovered well and should have grown up to be a healthy boy. Lisa Hayden-Johnson had other plans, though. She had become addicted to other people’s sympathy…
For more than six years, she lied about her son’s health. She insisted he was allergic to nearly all food, had cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis. She also told doctors the child had diabetes and spiked his urine samples with glucose in order to fool tests. Matthew endured more than 325 medical encounters, and wore dark glasses because of a supposed intolerance to sunlight.
Doctors eventually performed surgery to fit a feeding tube directly into the then four-year-old child’s stomach after he began losing large amounts of weight, because of a lack of nutrition.
She appeared on daytime television to inform viewers that her son was now suffering from a life-threatening food allergy that left him unable to eat. Worse, the innocent boy at the centre of it all believed in his imaginary condition.
In reality, Lisa Hayden-Johnson had forced her son into a wheelchair, fed him through a tube when he didn’t need to, and let doctors – taken in by her deception – operate on the child despite the fact that there was nothing wrong with him.
I Love You to Death’s Lisa Hayden-Johnson: How much money did she get?
Lisa sold her story to multiple magazines, was given free tickets to live tapings and accepted multiple cars and cruises from charity foundations. She amassed £130,000 in benefits after claiming £20,000 a year in disability living allowance over a six-and-a-half year period.
Dozens of children’s charities gave her freebies including a new car and a cruise in Tenerife. She even received free X Factor tickets. This as well as multiple donations from kind well-wishers.
How was Lisa Hayden-Johnson found out?
Lisa also fabricated her qualifications to gain a job as a nurse. She claimed – again falsely – that she was a qualified nurse and was in the best position to know just how sick her son was. If medics pushed her, she threatened to sue.
However, this fantasy life finally began to unravel when a paediatrician raised the alarm. Having reviewed her son’s medical files, they became suspicious that his health problems had gone on for so long without a clear diagnosis.
When, in 2007, medics insisted that detailed tests should be carried out on Matthew, Lisa panicked. She claimed she had been sexually assaulted in a bid to cancel the hospital visit. Lisa also harmed herself in a bid to make the ‘attack’ seem authentic. She only admitted that it was a lie when police said they were about to arrest someone.
Doctors and hospital staff eventually discovered that Lisa had been “spiking” her son’s urine with glucose.
What was Lisa charged with?
A police investigation was launched after doctors came to the conclusion that there was little or nothing wrong with Matthew. Police subsequently arrested her in October 2007 on the charge of child cruelty and “perverting the system of justice”. Two years after her arrest, Lisa pleaded guilty to the charges.
The following trial revealed “significant physical and psychological harm inflicted on her son Matthew”. The court heard that her actions were driven by a desire for attention and financial gain, often appearing on television and spending charity donations meant for her son’s care.
Following a court hearing, Det Con Mark Uren of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary said of Hayden-Johnson: “She is a cruel, manipulative, evil mother who constantly lied to the medical professionals that her son was the illest child in Britain.”
Det Con Uren revealed that police seized a computer from the family home. They found a holiday video of the boy on a cruise ship running around in his swimming trunks and photos of him eating a roast and Yorkshire pudding and burgers. This despite the fact he supposedly could never keep solid food down.
A sadistic fabrication of non-existent symptoms
Prosecutor Andrew Macfarlane told the court that Lisa Hayden-Johnson’s “sadistic fabrication of non-existent symptoms” amounted to “24-hour-a-day torture”.
Despite public outrage, Johnson – who was 35 at the time – was given the lenient sentence of just over three years in prison. She spent three years and three months in jail after putting her son through years of unnecessary medical treatment.
Lisa subjected her son to hundreds of unnecessary medical procedures, including unnecessary feeding tubes and wheelchair confinement, in a prominent case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
What is Munchausen syndrome by proxy?
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is officially known as Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA) or fabricated/induced illness. It is a rare mental health condition and a serious form of abuse. In this condition, a caregiver “exaggerates, fakes, or deliberately causes physical or mental illness in a person under their care, usually a young child”.
The perpetrator then presents the victim to medical professionals to seek attention, sympathy, or praise for being a devoted caretaker. Like Lisa Hayden-Johnson, Jean O’Brien, and Dee Dee Blanchard, adults fabricate symptoms, including lying about lab tests, falsifying medical histories, or claiming a child cannot eat, walk, or breathe.
Often they inducing illness by poisoning, withholding necessary food or medicine, or physically harming the dependent to create real medical signs.
I Love You to Death’s Lisa Hayden-Johnson: Did her husband know?
Lisa Hayden-Johnson managed to keep the fabrication from her family, including her husband who believed his son was ill.
Matthew’s dad, his doctors, friends, and outside family all believed the child was unable to eat or swallow food.
At first, police arrested her husband. But, after questioning, they concluded that he had not been aware of the deception and he was released without charge.
Where is she now?
Lisa Hayden-Johnson is now 50, and appears in the new documentary series where she talks for the first time about her son, and her conviction.
She does not reveal her face in the series. Explaining why, she says: “I live in quite a small community, and I don’t want this to upset my life as I have it. And I want to be able to move on.”
Explaining why she wanted to take part in the documentary, she added: “I want to tell my side of the story because I’ve never had the opportunity to. The newspaper articles are so incorrect. How can I be Britain’s most evil mother? The only thing I was guilty of was putting my son first and fighting his battle, which is what I did. And I don’t regret that.”
She lost custody of her children. Matthew, who appears in the Channel 4 documentary I Love You to Death, was moved to another part of the country where he was able to recover from the physical wounds to his body. However, the psychological wounds will likely never heal.
