'My evil mum made me believe I was dying of cancer': Boy tells of his shocking ordeal

Cruel: Boy had his hair shaved by mum and wore a bandana

Daily Mirror

He missed out on three precious years of childhood thanks to an outrageous scam by his mum who convinced him he was dying.
And yesterday the young son of wicked Emma La Garde told how she tricked him into believing he had cancer so she could rake in £85,898 in bogus benefits to live the high life on the back of his misery.
The boy, now 10 – who had his head and eyebrows shaved to make him look like he was having chemotherapy – had already branded his 38-year-old mum “evil” in an impact ­statement read out in court after she admitted cruelty.
And speaking yesterday of his ordeal, he added: “It was horrible being made to think I had cancer. My mum made me think I was going to die.
“I asked her to tell me why she did it but she wouldn’t say.
“I said to my mum, ‘Why did you pick on me? Why did you lie and say I’d got cancer when I was all right?’
“She made me miss out on all the fun.
"I would have loved to go down the park and play tag and football with all the other kids. But my mum made me stay at home to rest.
“I felt like I’d been singled out. I didn’t want to be different.
"But she made people treat me like I was different. She wouldn’t let me be like a normal kid.”

Happy: Now living with his dad

FLASHFOTO/ Daily Mirror

Since his mum was locked up for three years and nine months on Tuesday, the youngster – who we cannot identify for legal reasons – said he has been playing ­football for his school team as well as hockey and is in the school play.
He also eats hearty meals instead of the regular snacks she convinced him he needed for his illness.
La Garde’s husband told how he was duped when she told him their then six-year-old son had been diagnosed with potentially fatal auto-immune lymphoproliferative syndrome, a serious and debilitating blood disorder.
In fact she had forged a medical letter to invent the illness.
She later broke the shocking “news” to him that the boy had cancer and doctors said he did not have long to live.
The 38-year-old dad, who has been caring for the lad and his siblings since their scheming mum was arrested in 2010, said: “I still find it hard to believe she managed to dupe me for so long.
"I’ve not even tried to get my head around it as it would be a complete mind mess.
“It’s taken my son a long time to realise there’s nothing wrong with him.
“He kept asking every couple of days, ‘So I haven’t got cancer?’
“We’ve had to get a social worker in several times to reassure him.
“I’m not angry with Emma and I feel no love or hatred towards her. I find it strange but I have no feelings for her.
“I think she did it for greed, to live a life of luxury.
“I still remember Emma telling me our son had cancer.
"She said, ‘This could be terminal. The doctors say we could lose him within a couple of years’.
“I’d just come home after a 12-hour shift working at the factory when Emma sat me down with a glass of white wine.
“It was after a hospital appointment and she showed me a letter saying he had cancer. It was only much later I found out she forged the letter.
“I went outside and she brought me a cigarette. I was shocked to the core. I believed he was suffering from cancer.
“Emma looked frail and ghosted as if she had been crying but she was still in control.
"Then we sat our son down to comfort him and she explained the illness to him.
"He was told it was terminal. We told all our close family that he was going to die. We didn’t know whether it would be months or years.
“Our son knows the truth and wanted to hear it from her mouth but he accepts now that she won’t own up to him.”

Tricked: In wheelchair on 2009 trip to Disney World

FLASHFOTO/Daily Mirror

La Garde’s benefits scam began in 2007 after she took the boy to hospital when he complained of leg pains.
Blood tests proved normal but she used a doctor’s letter as the template for the forgery claiming he had ALP.
La Garde, of Stroud, Glos, claimed disability living allowance and a Motability car to ferry her son around.
Teachers drew up care plans and she began sending him to school in a ­wheelchair.
The dad, now divorced from La Garde, said: “We had been living together for six years and I trusted Emma.
"There were tears and cuddles when she told me our son had a serious problem.
“I was working long hours.
"When I came home from the night shift she told me he had been having nose bleeds and wetting the bed, but I never saw any evidence.
“She said doctors advised him to use a wheelchair so he would not collapse from exhaustion.
"She got teachers to warn all the children at school to be careful around him.
"He was not allowed to sit on the floor with all the other kids for assembly.
“He was given a chair to sit on at the back with the teachers.
"She showed me a letter from a doctor saying he needed the wheelchair but our son refused to use it at home.
"He used to run outside and play on the trampoline.
"Emma shouted, ‘Careful how you bounce, don’t use too much energy and don’t let anyone else go on with you’.
"She wouldn’t let him use his bike unless he wore a full protective helmet and all the knee pads and arm pads. That caused a lot of rows.
“He blatantly refused and became quite a stroppy little monster because he had a lot of pent-up energy and couldn’t get his own way.
“We saved up and took the children on a two-week holiday to Disney World in Florida as a treat.
"I spent the whole time pushing our son around the theme parks in his ­wheelchair.
"He burst into tears several times because everyone was staring at him. He wasn’t really comfortable or happy.
"We took him to see the killer whales but he had to sit at the back instead of in the splash zone where he wanted to be.
“When he asked to get out of the ­wheelchair Emma said, ‘No, you must rest or we will have to leave early’.”

Conwoman: Meeting Mickey with his scamming mum

FLASHFOTO/ Daily Mirror

La Garde stepped up her wicked trickery early in 2010 when she provided the boy’s school with a GP’s letter saying he now had lymphoma.
The dad, who cannot be named, said: “I was in pieces. She told our son to eat little and often rather than meals that would bloat him.
"He became like a ghost of himself and was a lot more careful about what he could or could not do.
"Emma said, ‘He’s going to have chemotherapy in tablet form and will lose his hair.
"It will be easier for him if we shave it off rather than let it fall out’.
"I said, ‘I’m not happy about that’. But I came home from work that day to find him scalped. His eyebrows and hair were completely shaved off.
“We had heated words because it had not been agreed, but she made me feel guilty for questioning her.
“Emma wrote about it on Facebook asking her friends to find different coloured bandanas for him to wear. We finished up with about 15.
“It was destroying me and I started having a lot of doubts about what was true.
"At first I didn’t say anything, I didn’t want to rock the boat.
"Emma looked after the children and all the finances while I concentrated on earning a wage for the family.
"People were telling me I was paranoid. I became suicidal and didn’t see any way out.
"In March 2010 I walked out with the intention of killing myself with an samurai sword we had at home. I went to the pub and changed my mind.
“Emma phoned the police and as I was driving home four police cars appeared behind me. I stopped and was wrestled to the ground by several officers.
“They took me to be assessed in hospital and I went to live with my parents.”

Best of health: Boy enjoying walks with his dad

FLASHFOTO/Daily Mirror

It was a spelling mistake by La Garde on one of the forged doctor’s notes that finally made the duped dad realise her story had been an evil tissue of lies.
He said: “The word ‘to’ was miss-spelt as ‘too’. It was the only word she ever got wrong. We used to call it an Emma-ism.”
The dad is now trying to build a new life with the children and his new partner.
He added: “I gradually built up my son’s portions of food until he was having seconds and thirds and he put on about a stone.
"It took him a while to gain the ­confidence to have a rough and tumble. I play tickle fights with him to show there’s nothing wrong.
“He’s in the school football team, plays hockey and has been chosen for the school play.
"He is totally different now. He is the boy he should have been, he has been given back his childhood.
“I’m just looking forward to Christmas in our pyjamas, calm, quiet and stress-free with the family.”