Britain’s ‘most evil mother’, who pretended her young child was seriously ill to gain publicity and financial reward, has claimed she was ‘only guilty of putting my son first’.
Lisa Hayden-Johnson, 52, forced her son Matthew into a wheelchair and gave him unnecessary drugs to gain sympathy from celebrities and charity donations.
The mother-of-two, from Brixham in Devon, connected it to an oxygen tank as part of the manufacturing process and met Queen Camille, Lord Tony Blair and Simon Cowell.
But her deception ended when health workers and school staff told police about their concerns – leading to her being jailed for more than three years in 2010.
Now Ms Hayden-Johnson has spoken on camera in a new film for the first time since her release Channel 4 documentary called ‘Love You To Death’ airs tomorrow. Her eyes, hands and back are the only parts of her body seen during the program.
In a trailer shared with the Daily Mail, she says of Matthew’s birth: ‘I always wanted to be a mother. He was such a happy baby. It was the most amazing thing.”
Ms Hayden-Johnson then adds: ‘I will answer anything you can send me. The only thing I was guilty of was putting my son first, and I don’t regret that.”
The documentary also hears from Matthew and his sister Laura, as well as doctors, police and family members, about how she subjected him to prolonged and sustained cruelty.
Lisa Hayden-Johnson, 52, from Brixham, Devon, pretended her son Matthew needed a wheelchair
Matthew had an oxygen tank that was moved around on a Thomas the Tank Engine trolley
Lisa Hayden-Johnson poses with her husband and their children Matthew and Laura
Laura – who has complex PTSD due to nightmares of Matthew crying as his feeding tubes are changed – tells the programme: ‘I can still hear him screaming.’
During the screening, Ms Hayden-Johnson received free tickets to ITV’s The X Factor, thousands in cash donations and benefits, went on free cruises and lobbied for Matthew to receive a national GMTV bravery award.
But she organized a regime of medical, physiological and psychological abuse – which amounted to 24-hour torture for the boy.
Mrs Hayden-Johnson often described Matthew as ‘the sickest child in Britain’ – and he became convinced he was chronically ill.
She subjected him to 325 medical encounters, including inserting a feeding tube into his stomach under general anesthesia. He had a total of nine GAs.
Ms Hayden-Johnson also claimed Matthew suffered from illnesses including diabetes, food allergies, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis and an intolerance to sunlight.
After being examined by doctors in Devon, Bristol and London, she then forced Matthew to go to school in a wheelchair – even though he could run around with his friends.
Ms Hayden-Johnson also made him wear sunglasses to protect his eyes and a bright yellow and green hat so he could be taken to safety in an emergency.
At home, she wore a green nurse’s uniform and filled Matthew’s bedroom with medical supplies and oxygen cylinders – with one expert telling the documentary that the room looked ‘like a ward’.
Ms Hayden-Johnson even raised his blood sugar levels so that tests would support her claim that he had diabetes.
Together they met members of the Royal Family including Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall who presented him with a ‘Children of Courage’ medal, and Sarah Ferguson, then Duchess of York – as well as a range of other celebrities and the casts of BBC shows Casualty and EastEnders.
Ms Hayden-Johnson also claimed benefits totaling around £130,000.
But when Matthew was six, police arrested her after health care workers and school staff met and discussed their concerns.
Lisa Hayden-Johnson has spoken on camera for the first time since her release from prison
Matthew, now 25, also appears in the documentary which explores his mother’s deception
Matthew’s sister Laura, 27, has nightmares of screaming when his feeding tubes are changed
After an investigation was launched, Ms Hayden-Johnson falsely said she had been raped near her home.
But just as a suspect was about to be arrested, she confessed it was another lie – and later admitted child abuse and perverting the course of justice on the rape claim.
Police then discovered holiday videos of Matthew on a cruise ship, running around in his swimming trunks and eating large meals.
When Ms Hayden-Johnson was arrested, Matthew was initially transferred to foster carers by social services.
But he was later withdrawn with his sister Laura to live in Sheffield with their father, a supermarket manager who was initially caught up in his wife’s cheating.
Their father soon divorced Mrs Hayden-Johnson – who now has a new husband – and does not appear in the documentary.
Today, Matthew, now 25, works in finance and Laura, now 27 – who was diagnosed with complex PTSD – has a job in childcare.
When Ms Hayden-Johnson was jailed for three years and three months at Exeter Crown Court aged 35, Judge Stephen Wildblood told her: ‘There are five adjectives that describe you.
‘Cruel, manipulative, perverse, disorderly and pathetic. Your cruel behavior violated the basic rules of nature and nurture.”
Lisa Hayden-Johnson and Matthew at the Children of Courage Awards at Westminster Abbey
Matthew, who was six when his mother was arrested, sits on the tank for his sister Laura
Lisa Hayden-Johnson was jailed in January 2010 for faking her son’s serious illnesses
Devon and Cornwall Police also said at the time that Mrs Hayden-Johnson ‘constantly denied being cruel to her son’ and had never apologized for or explained her actions.
The press called her Britain’s ‘most evil mother’ – while Detective Mark Uren described her in 2009 as a ‘cruel, manipulative, evil mother who constantly lied to medical professionals that her son was the sickest child in Britain’.
Ms Hayden-Johnson is one of Britain’s most notable cases of Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA) or Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII), previously known as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.
This is defined by the NHS as a form of child abuse where a parent or carer exaggerates, fabricates or deliberately causes physical or mental health symptoms in a child.
The new program comes two months after another case of suspected FII was documented by the BBC Megan Bhari, whose mother helped her fake a brain tumor to get Brits to pay £400,000 for trips to Disney World.
The girl founded the charity Believe in Magic in 2011 at the age of 16 to help ‘other’ children suffering from serious or terminal illnesses, and ran it with her mother Jean O’Brien, 72, – gaining the support of several music stars.
But Megan died of heart failure in 2018 – with an inquest finding she did not have a brain tumor after all – and investigations later revealed the girl was in fact also a victim after allegedly being misled by her mother into believing she was ill.
‘Love You To Death’ airs tomorrow at 9pm on Channel 4
