Family Faked Illness to Get Millions in Medical Claims, Pleads Guilty to Fraud

For 12 years, a family faked an illness to access care packages from their local council, amassing nearly a million dollars in benefits.

Husband and wife Laura and Philip Borrell, and Frances Noble, Laura's mother, face prison time for conspiring fraud between 2005 to 2018. They pretended that Frances had a neurological condition so they could receive the direct payments care package, totaling $922,895.41 (£733,936.20), distributed by the Hertfordshire County Council in the U.K. as support for families with medical needs.

According to The Times, neighbors started getting suspicious of the family because they had Amazon deliveries nearly every day. The family also purchased a new Volvo that they couldn't otherwise afford with their jobs.

Frances also had caregivers who attended to her medical needs and reported their suspicions to the local council. They believe she exaggerated her medical condition.

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Charges Filed, "Not Guilty" to "Guilty"

Worried about the repercussions, the family moved to Germany, but in 2020, the local court charged Laura, Philip, and Frances for their crimes. According to The Comet, the family initially entered a plea of "not guilty" and were able to bail out. However, they changed their plea to "guilty" Wednesday, April 27, 2022, and will hear their sentence this June.

It is believed that the Borrell couple is back in the U.K.to face the court, but Frances has stayed behind in Germany. She insisted that the guilty plea was only to give closure to the case as they no longer have any funds to pay for their legal issues.

This was not the only serious illness in the family. In 2017, Laura and Philip appeared on "This Morning" to talk about her dementia. Laura, then 39, claimed that she was one of the youngest people diagnosed with the disease.

Laura said that she had to deal with doctors doubting her condition because she was still too young to have dementia, which commonly develops among people above 65 years old. She said that doctors have been rude to her and labeled her as a hysterical white woman. She insisted that her medical condition was why she stopped pursuing her law studies at the University of London.

At that time, the Borrells launched a fundraiser so that they could take a trip to America, allegedly before Laura lost her memory completely. Laura's dementia is not related to her current court case.

Mom Faked Child Illness Gets 16 Years

Meanwhile, in Colorado, a mother was sentenced to prison for 16 years as she faked her daughter's illness. Kelly Turner was guilty of child abuse, which resulted in the death of Olivia Grant, seven years old.

According to the New York Post, the mother lied to doctors about her daughter's medical history. Olivia underwent medications and surgeries due to the mother's insistence. She also made Olivia's struggles public so she could receive donations, ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, from the public and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Olivia's grandparents sued the hospital, which failed to verify and report the abuse.

Related Article: Colorado Mom Kelly Turner, Who Faked Daughter's Illness, Admits Guilt Over Her Death