The Sentencing For This One Should Be Interesting....

Mother 'claimed she was terminally ill with brain tumour, bone cancer AND leukaemia to con well-wishers out of cash'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:38 PM on 5th December 2010

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A young mother-of-three is set to appear in court accused of lying about being terminally ill in order to con well-wishers out of cash.

Terri Edkins claimed to have been diagnosed with a brain tumour, bone cancer and leukaemia and said she had been given just six months to live.

A campaign to raise £25,000 was launched to fly the 23-year-old to the US for revolutionary treatment so she could spend extra time with her husband and children before she died.

Terri Eva June Edkins



Charged: Terri Edkins, 23, seen with her husband Lawrence, has been charged with falsely claiming to be stricken with leukaemia, bone cancer and a brain tumour in order to defraud

But now Edkins, of Gainsborough, Lincs, has been charged with committing three counts of fraud through lying about her condition.

She was due to appear at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court last Friday, but the case was put back to after the New Year because of the bad weather.

Edkins, who shaved her hair off and wore a headscarf, was apparently told she had a brain tumour and bone cancer - and six months to live - in the summer of 2009.

She then appeared to suffer a further blow when she was diagnosed with leukaemia months later.

Edkins brought the date of her wedding to husband Lawrence, 24, forward to October 2009 so they could enjoy more time together as a married couple.

And at least two charity events took place in order to raise the cash needed to send her to Boston for revolutionary proteum radiotherapy treatment.

Speaking in June about an upcoming family fun day organised by Lawrence in Gainsborough, Edkins said:'All I want is more time with my children and my husband.

'If I wasn't married or had children then I'm certain I would have just given up by now.
'But they said six months nearly a year ago and I'm still here, so every day is a real bonus.

'And I'm really glad that the children are still too young to understand what's happening. That also keeps me going.”

At the event itself, which featured a men versus women charity football match, a raffle and a tombola, and raised £580, she added: 'I reckon I'm doing very well, but I think that is because of my husband Lawrence and the kids.

'Some days are harder than others, but I try to put a brave face on everything. If I get to the USA it will mean more time with my family – that's all I'm after.

'I'm really grateful to everyone who is trying so hard because this is basically my last shot. I'd really like to thank everyone who turned up and supported us.'

A charity head-shave was also organised last May, during which Edkins’ father-in-law, Paul Gibbs, had his long locks shorn off.

Before the event, which raised another £800, he said: 'I've had very long hair for as long as I can remember and I'll be sorry to see it go.

'But Terri's health is far, far more important and now we've heard about the treatment in the USA we've just got to give it a go.

'We've already had more than £100 from pledges by family and friends, but we want to raise as much as possible as soon as possible.'

Edkins is accused of defrauding three organisations: St John’s Ambulance, Tesco, who donated shirts to the charity football match, and Gainsborough Lions club - out of a total of £175.78, by lying about her illness.

She is due in court again on January 12.

Bizarrely, at the same time Edkins was supposed to be appearing in the dock on Friday, she announced on her Facebook page that she was expecting a fourth child.

She wrote: 'Terri Edkins is months pregnant and is very happy n everything is lookin fine thank god hopein for a little girl will find out in da new year”.

Stunned friends replied with: 'Wow Terri it’s literally a miracle you’ve got pregnant with all the treatment, congrats”, and:'Thought it was impossible with how ill you’ve been? Huge congrats anyway!”

Edkins’ parents-in-law spoke of their shock at the allegations.

Susan Gibbs, 61, said: 'We could not believe it. We have always thought she has got cancer. She told us she went to see the doctors and they said there was nothing they could do for her.

'Loads of people have helped her. Everyone just got involved, and everyone clubbed together. We even had donations sent here from two old ladies who saw her story in the local paper, and we passed them on to Terri and Lawrence.

'We’ve lived here for 18 years, and all our neighbours helped out too. Now we’ve had to go around them all telling them what has happened.

'This is a huge shock. We had no reason to believe she wasn’t genuine. We would look after the children when she said she was going to hospital, and once even saw her at home with needles and tubes coming out of her arm and stomach.

'She also went for chemotherapy and came home saying her hair felt like it was on fire. She ran upstairs and started pulling it out. After that Lawrence shaved her hair off.

'When she would go for hospital visits, Lawrence would go to pick her up with the kids and wait for her outside. He’d never go in.

'Now we don’t really know what to believe. I spoke to Lawrence and he just said: "I need to sort this out, I’ll get back to you”. We haven’t heard from him since.'

RIORITA wrote: What's with this hands on thigh thing!!

The Famous Grouse wrote:She only managed to diddle people out of a couple of grand. I wonder how long she'll get. And how much you are likely to get for diddling people out of 3 million.

margaret wrote:Why on earth would someone do that??? Are they not clever enough to realise they'll get found out??

Christ on a bike l've led a sheltered life.