A nurse has spoken out about her devastation after her best friend conned her out of more than £100,000 while saying the money was for her uncle's cancer treatment.
Susan Hughes handed over the money to her friend Anna Bonner, 40, believing it was going towards a man called Ste Lucas, who was battling cancer.
Susan had fallen for Ste while he was working on the door of a nightclub and automatically believed Anna when she told him he was her uncle.
Susan spent years handing over the wages she made working for the NHS, loans and cash borrowed on credit cards, believing it was going towards Ste's treatment.
But she later made the shocking discovery that her best friend had been lying to her.
Now, having been driven into debt and a mental health breakdown by Anna's lies, Susan doesn't know if the 'Ste Lucas' she was communicating with ever existed, or was a fictional character based on the bouncer she fell for, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Last week, during a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, a judge said Anna Bonner was “greedy, devious and manipulative” after she pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. She was jailed for 28 months.
“I have a soft heart, I like looking after people, and Anna took advantage of that," Susan says now. "She manipulated me and took me for every penny I had.
“I truly believed that my money was going to help a man who I cared about deeply, and I believed wanted a future with me. When I found out that it was all a sham, I was devastated. Anna was my best friend, I was her chief bridesmaid, we had lived together and worked together. The deception is very cruel.
“I felt so foolish when the truth came out, but I now realise that the shame and the humiliation is all hers. She has left me with nothing, but I have my dignity and my self-respect, and that is priceless.”
The two women first met in 1998 while working as carers at a supported living complex in Heswall, Wirral and rented a place together, and although they bickered at times, Susan believed they had a solid friendship.
Susan continued: “Anna told me she came from a difficult background. I was from a very close family, and I felt sorry for her, I took her under my wing a bit. We got on really well. Anna and I were joined at the hip. We worked together, lived together, partied together.
"We argued over money because I was contributing more to the household bills. Looking back, I was being isolated from my family and friends, but I didn’t see it at the time.”
It was on a night out that Susan fell for a bouncer named Ste. “I was flirting with him, I really fancied him," she said.
"Anna told me he was her uncle and I couldn’t believe my luck. I’d see Ste most weeks when we went out and I really liked him, but there was nothing more than a friendship between us. Eventually, I moved back to my parents, to manage my debt. But Anna and I remained friends.”
When Anna got married at St Peter’s Church on the Wirral, in 2001, Susan was chief bridesmaid. "Anna had a big white wedding," Susan said.
"It was a fancy do and a lovely day. She left me to look after her house whilst she went on honeymoon to Cyprus. Even afterwards, we stayed best friends. She had two kids and I helped out with childcare.
“Some of my other friends, and also my dad, John, thought Anna took advantage of me. But I am soft-hearted, I like looking after people, it’s part of my nature.”
Out of the blue in 2011, Susan got a call from a man claiming to be Ste, the bouncer she fancied. At this time she was at university training as a psychiatric nurse.
She continued: “Ste and I had lost touch because the club where he worked had closed down. I got a flutter inside when he called me. I still had feelings for him.
“We stayed in touch, and Anna told me he was working in Las Vegas and doing really well. Christmas was coming, and Ste messaged me that he’d really like a camcorder, which I bought for him, and Anna said she’d post it to him. He was her uncle and so she was sending him a Christmas parcel too.”
Months later, Ste messaged to say he was returning to the UK and arranged to meet up with Susan in a club in Liverpool.
Susan said: “I started to think that there might be something between us. I went to the club, with Anna, and I was so excited. But he wasn’t there; he made up an excuse afterwards that he had been arrested.
“I was still best mates with Anna, I still had a key to her home, but we saw less of each other, because I was working long hours as a nurse and she had her family. We messaged each other a lot, and I was getting messages from Ste too. He told me he was in prison because of a mix-up on the night out. I knew he was a good bloke, and I wanted to help him.
“We exchanged gifts and cards; he sent me clothes and perfume for birthdays and Christmas. I sent him electrical goods; a phone and a tablet, as well as love letters, and Valentines cards.”.
Ste told Susan he had testicular cancer in 2015, obviously, she was "worried sick" about this. She said: “He was very down about it and Anna told me he’d attempted suicide. I asked several times if I could visit him but he said he didn’t want me to see him in such a bad state, which I understood.”
Anna confided in Susan that Ste was fundraising for private cancer treatment in Maryland, USA. Susan added: “Of course I wanted to help. I sent £1000, followed by £2800 the following month. And it went from there.
“Anna would tell me he needed a new drug, and I’d transfer money into her account. I was earning good wages as a mental health nurse, and I worked six days a week to pay for his treatment.
“I took out loans and I got two credit cards. I didn’t confide in my family and friends, deep down I knew what they’d say. I was blinded by my feelings for Ste and I also felt emotionally blackmailed; I could not turn him down when he was so ill.
“He was so grateful. He messaged me and said he saw a future for us both. He told me he wanted to marry me.”
During the course of five years, Susan paid a total of £117,000 towards Ste's 'cancer treatment'. She was working all hours under the sun, she was "on the point of collapse", she claimed. In 2019 she had a breakdown and had to leave her job
"I was desperately worried about Ste, I sent him every penny I had, and yet all I got back was promises," she said. "I was over £30k in debt.”
"Anna told me she was in America looking after Ste and she was putting me under intense pressure to send money, but I didn’t have any left.”
In February 2020, Susan eventually confided in a close pal, Laura, who immediately became suspicious. The pair checked Anna's social media, which said she was in Skelmersdale, not America.
Susan said: “Laura called the hospital where Anna apparently worked, and they’d never heard of her. I contacted the register office, using Ste’s full name and date of birth. I was told there was no match.
“It was an almighty shock. Anna had split with her husband, and he revealed he’d found a bundle of cards and gifts which I’d sent to Ste. Anna had them all. I felt sick as each piece of the jigsaw fell into place.”
In June 2020, Susan went to the police. “I felt so hurt and foolish," she added. "She had abused my trust and my friendship, playing on my affections for Ste. I don’t know if he ever existed, beyond the bouncer I met a few times. There is certainly no record of him.
“I now suffer with dreadful anxiety and depression and I’ve had to leave my job. I’m in debt and I’ve moved back in with my parents.
“My comfort is that I always acted with honesty and integrity and kindness. I have a close family and many good friends and they are a great support.”
Bonner, 40, appeared before Liverpool Crown Court in April. The court was told she had kept Susan’s money for herself, while also encouraging her to send letters, cards and gifts. When police started to investigate Bonner's fraud, in 2020, they tried to contact ‘Ste’, but he was never found. Susan sent just over £117,000 to Bonner's accounts during the five year period her best friend duped her.
Prosecuting, Ms Atherton said: “The defendant deliberately misled Ms Hughes into thinking that she was communicating with Ste and providing money for his medical rehabilitation, when in fact the defendant was the one taking money for herself. The defendant used pressure techniques, applying deadlines to the payments of funds and used emotional pressure to suggest Ms Hughes may have a future with Ste if she paid over the money."
Trevor Parry-Jones, defending, said Bonner was remorseful and ashamed of what she had done but said probation officers had struggled even now to figure out what exactly motivated her.
He said: “It is in one way bizarre that she became involved in this, particularly in relation to somebody who she considered, and who considered her, to be a friend.”
A judge labelled Bonner “greedy, devious and manipulative” and jailed her for 28 months after she pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. She was also handed a restraining order for 15 years.
