Conwoman guilty of £300k ‘cancer’ swindle

Jun 5 2008

A HEARTLESS conwoman took more than £¼m from her Lanarkshire fiancé by pretending she was terminally ill.

Anne Marie McKeown (40) defrauded Ewan Cameron of £300,000 over a two-year period by claiming she had cancer and needed treatment.

She had fake surgical scars tattooed on her body, borrowed a colostomy bag, and had a friend dress up as a nurse and push her around in a wheelchair.

McKeown even played Mr Cameron, formerly of Tannochside, a recording of a heart monitor in the background during a phone call.

Concerned about his fianceé’s health, Mr Cameron – who had a number of trust funds – transferred sums of £1000 to £43,000 into McKeown’s bank account thinking the cash would be used for medical bills.

But two-timing McKeown was spending the cash on living in style with secret boyfriend James Brown (44).

He blew the whistle on McKeown, however, when he realised she was conning him too.

Fiscal depute Angela Gray told Hamilton Sheriff Court last week: “According to Mr Brown, the accused spent the money from Mr Cameron as soon as she got it, on holidays, clothes, luxury cars and a house she shared with Mr Brown.

“She wasn’t working at the time and appears to have no assets of note. No money appears to have been recovered.

“Mr Cameron didn’t have enough money in his trust funds to meet all McKeown’s requests. He had to borrow from his father, who is also substantially out of pocket.”

The court was also told that callous McKeown would tell Mr Cameron that she was too ill to see him.

Ms Gray said: “For periods the accused led Mr Cameron to believe she was resting and insisted he wasn’t to visit her.

“The only contact was to be from her phoning him.

“On one occasion during a phone call, he insisted on going to see her, but a short time later he got a call from a woman purporting to be a doctor who said McKeown was too frail for visits.

“This woman turned out to be a friend of the accused.”

On occasions when McKeown agreed to stay overnight with Mr Cameron she would feign illness.

She arrived in a taxi with a woman dressed as a nurse who would push her into the house in a wheelchair and Mr Cameron would carry her to the settee and tend to her every need.

Ms Gray explained: “She would complain of pain from recent operations and appeared to be taking various medications.

“She met Mr Cameron’s elderly parents and once allowed his mother to help her to the toilet. Mrs Cameron noticed what appeared to be scars on McKeown’s body.

“She also had what looked like a colostomy bag fitted.

“Once McKeown phoned her fiance and told him she was hooked to a heart monitor. He could hear beeping in the background.”

McKeown had originally been charged with obtaining £500,000 from Mr Cameron at 16 Leesland, Tannochside, and elsewhere in Scotland, between December 2001 and December 2003. However, she pleaded guilty last Friday to conning him of £300,000.

Her advocate, Mark Moir, produced a psychiatric report which described his client as “vulnerable” with a range of problems.

Mr Moir also claimed that Brown had played a significant part in the con.

Sheriff Joyce Powrie deferred sentence on McKeown – of Scotstoun Street, Glasgow – until June 23, and remanded her in custody meantime given the scale of the fraud.