Woman pleads guilty to bizarre fraud plot that deceived online boyfriend and ended in mother and daughter killing themselves
A MOTHER and daughter killed themselves in a horrific suicide pact after a warped fraudster trapped them in a staggeringly bizarre web of threats and lies.
And yesterday, the full extent of Linsey Cotton’s heartless deception was laid bare in court.
Cotton, a single mother of two from West Lothian, invented a phantom girlfriend, a bogus stem cell trial, a fictitious murdering doctor and a non-existent government cover-up.
And she conjured up a whole cast of characters for her charade.
Cotton, 33, used 15 phones, two laptops and two tablet computers to convince her victims she was more than a dozen different people. At various points, she played a nurse, a barrister and government officials.
Her scam netted her nearly £5000 and a hoard of expensive gifts. But she also terrorised Margaret McDonough and daughter Nicola – until they checked into a Premier Inn, took pills and slashed themselves.
Margaret, 52, died within hours of being found at the Greenock hotel
on May 10, 2013. Nicola, 23, passed away three days later.
In the run-up to the tragedy, Cotton had convinced the women they faced 20 years in prison and turned their son and brother against them. Her lawyer said she was sorry.
Cotton began her scheme a year before the double suicide by ensnaring Margaret’s son Michael, a 33-year-old RAF corporal who served at Lossiemouth in Moray.
In May 2012, she joined dating site Plenty of Fish – using the name and photo of her stepsister Steph, who had nothing to do with the scam.
Michael saw “Steph” and fell for her. But when they began phoning each other, it was Cotton he was talking to, and she wasted no time filling his head with lies.
She told Michael that Steph was having trouble with her sister’s boyfriend. Then, posing as Steph’s mum, she said the boyfriend had attacked her and left her in hospital with bleeding on the brain.
Soon after, Cotton said Steph had been chosen for a pioneering stem cell trial run by a company called Biotech.
Cotton created a number of characters who told Michael on the phone that they were visiting Steph in hospital.
Michael by now believed Steph was his girlfriend and wanted to visit her too.
But Cotton told him she was being moved around different hospitals and couldn’t see him because she had signed a confidentiality agreement for the trial.
Her lies then became even more elaborate. She told Michael a
Biotech doctor had tried to kill Steph by poisoning her with drugs, that the Government were involved and that the press had been banned from reporting the case.
Prosecutor Fraser Gibson told Paisley Sheriff Court: “Michael was led to believe Biotech were trying to kill Steph. He was told they were killing people off.
“Linsey Cotton told him the scandal was so big the Government were trying to cover it up.
“She said he was keeping Steph alive with his support and Biotech were preventing him from seeing her in an attempt to kill her.”
Cotton, as Steph, would manipulate Michael in marathon, late-night conversations by threatening to dump him if he didn’t do what she wanted. The threats caused him “great stress”, the court heard.
By now, Cotton had also written herself into her own fantasy by convincing Michael she was Steph’s closest confidant.
Most of his conversations were now with Cotton, playing herself. But she also continued to use the Steph character to control him.
Steph told Michael he should go on holiday with Cotton and her kids to Newcastle, and he agreed. Cotton also tricked him into giving her money, and told him to buy Steph an expensive pendant for her birthday.
She then told Michael he would have more chance of seeing Steph if they were engaged. He agreed, but Steph then texted him, saying: “Where’s my ring? If you loved me you would have bought me a ring.”
Michael bought a ring for £1870 and sent it to Steph. He got a photo message back of the ring on a woman’s hand.
At the same time, Cotton was putting a picture of the ring on her own Facebook page and telling her friends she was “engaged to Michael McDonough”.
All her family, friends and neighbours believed he was her fiance.
This, according to Cotton, was the main motivation for the plot – she wanted to find love.
Financial gain, she claimed, was secondary. But over a year, Michael gave her £4910, a Blackberry and iPhone, as well as painting and wallpapering her home in Addiewell and fixing the laminate flooring and skirting boards.
Cotton, in various guises, contacted Michael 33,000 times over the 12 months. And she also lured Margaret and Nicole into her fictional world.
She claimed that to save Steph from the Biotech killers, help was needed from the European Court of Human Rights. And to bolster the case, Margaret and Nicola would have to provide written testimonies about how badly Michael had been affected by the whole affair.
Both women agreed to help. But Cotton then turned on Nicola, claiming her testimony was “not good enough”.
In a letter from Steph, Cotton told her: “Your big brother has asked you for help and it’s become apparent you could not be bothered to give it a go. Enjoy your life Nicola while I struggle with mine.”
Cotton then claimed the secrecy around Steph’s stem cell treatment had been breached – and that Margaret and Nicola were to blame and faced jail.
The court heard Nicola, who had told her boyfriend about the case, was “in hysterics”, and Margaret was physically sick with worry.
Cotton began sending messages from a fake lawyer which advised Margaret and Nicola to flee abroad to avoid prison – and asked them for thousands of pounds to help with the process.
She tried to get £5500 out of Michael and his family and sent messages to Michael which talked about making Nicola pay.
In texts to Steph, Michael said he could never forgive his mum or his sister for breaching the confidentiality clause.
On May 7, 2013, Cotton went to Margaret’s home in Paisley to discuss the crisis over Steph. Three days later. Margaret and Nicola were found dying at the Greenock Premier Inn.
Even after the tragedy, Cotton continued to manipulate Michael, luring him into her bed with a message from Steph that suggested she “needed a cuddle”. He insisted that his relationship with Cotton remained platonic.
On May 22, 2013, police investigating the deaths of Margaret and Nicola arrived at Cotton’s home. They seized her phones and laptops and her scheme was discovered.
She pled guilty to fraud, falsely threatening Margaret and Nicola with prison and conning Michael out of money and gifts. She was not charged in relation to the deaths of the mother and daughter.
Cotton has been on bail since the case began. But relatives of Margaret and Nicola watched yesterday as she was handcuffed and taken to prison to await sentence next month. She showed no emotion.
Her lawyer, Gerry Bann, told the court his client felt “remorse and shame for
the upset and anguish her deplorable conduct caused the family”.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scotti...ud-6465635
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-them.html
A woman who was looking for "love" has cost this man his mother and sister.
A MOTHER and daughter killed themselves in a horrific suicide pact after a warped fraudster trapped them in a staggeringly bizarre web of threats and lies.
And yesterday, the full extent of Linsey Cotton’s heartless deception was laid bare in court.
Cotton, a single mother of two from West Lothian, invented a phantom girlfriend, a bogus stem cell trial, a fictitious murdering doctor and a non-existent government cover-up.
And she conjured up a whole cast of characters for her charade.
Cotton, 33, used 15 phones, two laptops and two tablet computers to convince her victims she was more than a dozen different people. At various points, she played a nurse, a barrister and government officials.
Her scam netted her nearly £5000 and a hoard of expensive gifts. But she also terrorised Margaret McDonough and daughter Nicola – until they checked into a Premier Inn, took pills and slashed themselves.
Margaret, 52, died within hours of being found at the Greenock hotel
on May 10, 2013. Nicola, 23, passed away three days later.
In the run-up to the tragedy, Cotton had convinced the women they faced 20 years in prison and turned their son and brother against them. Her lawyer said she was sorry.
Cotton began her scheme a year before the double suicide by ensnaring Margaret’s son Michael, a 33-year-old RAF corporal who served at Lossiemouth in Moray.
In May 2012, she joined dating site Plenty of Fish – using the name and photo of her stepsister Steph, who had nothing to do with the scam.
Michael saw “Steph” and fell for her. But when they began phoning each other, it was Cotton he was talking to, and she wasted no time filling his head with lies.
She told Michael that Steph was having trouble with her sister’s boyfriend. Then, posing as Steph’s mum, she said the boyfriend had attacked her and left her in hospital with bleeding on the brain.
Soon after, Cotton said Steph had been chosen for a pioneering stem cell trial run by a company called Biotech.
Cotton created a number of characters who told Michael on the phone that they were visiting Steph in hospital.
Michael by now believed Steph was his girlfriend and wanted to visit her too.
But Cotton told him she was being moved around different hospitals and couldn’t see him because she had signed a confidentiality agreement for the trial.
Her lies then became even more elaborate. She told Michael a
Biotech doctor had tried to kill Steph by poisoning her with drugs, that the Government were involved and that the press had been banned from reporting the case.
Prosecutor Fraser Gibson told Paisley Sheriff Court: “Michael was led to believe Biotech were trying to kill Steph. He was told they were killing people off.
“Linsey Cotton told him the scandal was so big the Government were trying to cover it up.
“She said he was keeping Steph alive with his support and Biotech were preventing him from seeing her in an attempt to kill her.”
Cotton, as Steph, would manipulate Michael in marathon, late-night conversations by threatening to dump him if he didn’t do what she wanted. The threats caused him “great stress”, the court heard.
By now, Cotton had also written herself into her own fantasy by convincing Michael she was Steph’s closest confidant.
Most of his conversations were now with Cotton, playing herself. But she also continued to use the Steph character to control him.
Steph told Michael he should go on holiday with Cotton and her kids to Newcastle, and he agreed. Cotton also tricked him into giving her money, and told him to buy Steph an expensive pendant for her birthday.
She then told Michael he would have more chance of seeing Steph if they were engaged. He agreed, but Steph then texted him, saying: “Where’s my ring? If you loved me you would have bought me a ring.”
Michael bought a ring for £1870 and sent it to Steph. He got a photo message back of the ring on a woman’s hand.
At the same time, Cotton was putting a picture of the ring on her own Facebook page and telling her friends she was “engaged to Michael McDonough”.
All her family, friends and neighbours believed he was her fiance.
This, according to Cotton, was the main motivation for the plot – she wanted to find love.
Financial gain, she claimed, was secondary. But over a year, Michael gave her £4910, a Blackberry and iPhone, as well as painting and wallpapering her home in Addiewell and fixing the laminate flooring and skirting boards.
Cotton, in various guises, contacted Michael 33,000 times over the 12 months. And she also lured Margaret and Nicole into her fictional world.
She claimed that to save Steph from the Biotech killers, help was needed from the European Court of Human Rights. And to bolster the case, Margaret and Nicola would have to provide written testimonies about how badly Michael had been affected by the whole affair.
Both women agreed to help. But Cotton then turned on Nicola, claiming her testimony was “not good enough”.
In a letter from Steph, Cotton told her: “Your big brother has asked you for help and it’s become apparent you could not be bothered to give it a go. Enjoy your life Nicola while I struggle with mine.”
Cotton then claimed the secrecy around Steph’s stem cell treatment had been breached – and that Margaret and Nicola were to blame and faced jail.
The court heard Nicola, who had told her boyfriend about the case, was “in hysterics”, and Margaret was physically sick with worry.
Cotton began sending messages from a fake lawyer which advised Margaret and Nicola to flee abroad to avoid prison – and asked them for thousands of pounds to help with the process.
She tried to get £5500 out of Michael and his family and sent messages to Michael which talked about making Nicola pay.
In texts to Steph, Michael said he could never forgive his mum or his sister for breaching the confidentiality clause.
On May 7, 2013, Cotton went to Margaret’s home in Paisley to discuss the crisis over Steph. Three days later. Margaret and Nicola were found dying at the Greenock Premier Inn.
Even after the tragedy, Cotton continued to manipulate Michael, luring him into her bed with a message from Steph that suggested she “needed a cuddle”. He insisted that his relationship with Cotton remained platonic.
On May 22, 2013, police investigating the deaths of Margaret and Nicola arrived at Cotton’s home. They seized her phones and laptops and her scheme was discovered.
She pled guilty to fraud, falsely threatening Margaret and Nicola with prison and conning Michael out of money and gifts. She was not charged in relation to the deaths of the mother and daughter.
Cotton has been on bail since the case began. But relatives of Margaret and Nicola watched yesterday as she was handcuffed and taken to prison to await sentence next month. She showed no emotion.
Her lawyer, Gerry Bann, told the court his client felt “remorse and shame for
the upset and anguish her deplorable conduct caused the family”.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scotti...ud-6465635
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-them.html
A woman who was looking for "love" has cost this man his mother and sister.
I was there the day feminism fell...
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