The fraud who preyed on families of suicide victims

Betty Maxwell-Carter’s story tugged at the heart strings of generous Scots who donated tens of thousands of pounds to the charity set up by the self-styled ‘suicidologist’.

But then it emerged that the former policewoman was nothing more than a female Walter Mitty. She had duped hundreds of people, including the Scottish footballer Lou Macari, who had lost his own son to suicide.

Maxwell-Carter was revealed as a former bankrupt who had been charged with insurance fraud. Her qualifications were forged and there never had been a tragic brother who committed suicide. Her charity, Facilitate Scotland, collapsed, leaving dozens of vulnerable people with nowhere to go.

Now Scotland on Sunday can reveal that Maxwell-Carter faces being barred from working in a senior role at a charity again. Court documents seen by this newspaper expose the full extent of her deception.

Last night, speaking publicly for the first time about Maxwell-Carter’s duplicity, Macari said: "It is a real blow to learn that her apparent understanding was faked, and we were really heartbroken that Facilitate was allowed to go under."

The Scottish Charities Office (SCO) has lodged a petition with the Court of Session in Edinburgh in an attempt to ensure Maxwell-Carter, 47, never again takes a leading role in the voluntary sector.

The hearing has been set for May next year in order to give the Crown Office more time to decide whether to mount a criminal prosecution against the self-appointed chief executive of Facilitate Scotland, who had awarded herself a 65,000 a year salary.

Maxwell-Carter, also known by her maiden name of Reading and by her married name, Connelly, passed herself off as a doctor, a psychologist, an academic and a minister at different times. In fact, she was a former bankrupt who had previously been charged with insurance fraud.

She described herself grandly as "the only full-time suicidologist in Britain", and used her bogus claim of personal experience of suicide and fake credentials to get close to grieving parents struck by tragedy. Among them was former Celtic and Manchester United footballer Macari, whose 19-year-old son Jonathan committed suicide in 1999.

"After I lost my son, I was contacted by Betty. To be perfectly honest, at such a time you’re at the lowest point you could ever be, and are grateful to anyone who offers support," he said. "She seemed to know what she was talking about. We took it that was from the personal experience of suicide she claimed to have, so we let her into our lives. When Facilitate came along, we were delighted and obviously glad to help."

Facilitate was closed down in October last year following a lengthy investigation by the SCO. The charity was counselling 36 vulnerable young Scots at the time.

The organisation had been poised to benefit from a massive campaign orchestrated by the Daily Record. In an attempt to spare the Daily Record embarrassment, the newspaper was tipped off about the investigation and froze the funds, later diverting them to other causes.

The court petition presented to the Court of Session and seen by Scotland on Sunday reveals that Maxwell-Carter served as a police officer with the Glasgow, later Strathclyde, force from 1973 until the late 1980s.

It also says that at least two directors of the charity were supposed to rubber-stamp all crucial decisions, such as setting her 65,000 salary. While Maxwell-Carter was entitled to be involved in the decision, it now appears that the second director never existed.

The petition notes that at times, the second director’s "purported signature" reads "Mary Dooley", and at others "Mary Dooly". Also, her address on charity documents was given as 30 Cherrybank Walk, Airdrie, actually Maxwell-Carter’s address. Maxwell-Carter gave her husband’s place of business as her own address.

On discovering that Mary Dooley did not live at the address that had been given, investigators asked Maxwell-Carter where they would find her. They were given an address in the United States. The petition notes: "Said address does not exist ... the petitioner has reasonable grounds for suspecting that said Mary Dooley does not exist."

Maxwell-Carter eventually admitted not having a brother, but claimed it was in fact her cousin who had committed suicide. She produced a photograph of the ‘dead’ man. It later emerged the person in the picture was Lawrie Williams, the ex-Dumbarton goalkeeper, who is alive and no relation.

The petition states that Maxwell-Carter claimed to have a PhD from Golding Graduate Institute and even produced a copy of the degree certificate. However, the certificate has no address, she has been unable to provide one and investigators have been unable to locate it anywhere in the world.

It also indicates that her husband, James Connelly, was an authorised signatory of the charity’s bank account and states that, because he was not a trustee, office bearer or director, he had no right to be.

Towards the end of last year, the SCO appointed a judicial factor, who authorised two prominent members of staff, Lorna Ross, who was in charge of counselling, and Ainslie McAllister, the senior administrator, to go through the charity’s paperwork.The pair initially hoped the charity could be saved, but what they uncovered sealed the organisation’s fate.

McAllister said: "We realised why she’d claimed Facilitate would need 500,000 a year to meet running costs. She wanted to do everything in style."

The gap left by Facilitate’s collapse prompted health minister Malcolm Chisholm to announce last December that 12m would be spent over the next three years to cut Scotland’s appalling suicide rate.

Over 20 years, the number of suicides in Scotland soared by more than 20% to nearly 890 in 2001. Ross believes Facilitate could have helped reduce that figure if it had been allowed to survive without its founder.