Daughter of ‘Britain’s most evil mum’ speaks out after brother said he now forgives her
The daughter of 'Britain's most evil mum' has spoken out about her fractious relationship with her mother, that continued long after her spell in jail for abusing her brother.
Laura Johnson also believes that she was a victim of her mother's abuse, as well as her little brother Matthew, and revealed the moment she knew her mum was lying about her son's health.
Lisa Hayden-Johnson served 19 months of a 39-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to child cruelty and perverting the course of justice in January 2010.
After her release, she eventually became a part of her daughter's life again.
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So much so that, aged 16 and against her father's wishes, Laura accepted an invitation to go and live with her as she was struggling with depression following her family's move from Devon to Sheffield.
Laura told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview that the move 'felt really good to start with' but things soon took a turn for the worst.
Hayden-Johnson began to complain of her own health issues, claiming she was suffering nerve damage due to misdiagnosed diabetes.
It got to the point that Laura was acting as her carer and pushing her around in a wheelchair, while she also had moments of 'regression' and acted like a child.
Laura got out and moved in with a boyfriend.
Now 27, she cut all ties with her unrepentant mother three years ago, and shared her final text message she sent to her with the Daily Mail.
It read: "I can’t forgive you for what you caused Matthew when he was a child and also what you have done to me in the past and more recently.
"I appreciate everything you did for me when I came to live with you but that was met with a lot of unnecessary hurt too. I’ve tried to help you but you won’t accept you need help."
Yet, despite her anger, Laura hopes her mum gets better.
"I’m so angry at her for the past and what she put us through," she said. "But I still want her to get better and accept she has a problem before she hurts anyone else."
Matthew says he has forgiven his mother
The infamous case has returned to the public consciousness after Matthew, now 25, and Laura opened up about their disturbing childhood in a three-part Channel 4 documentary, Love You To Death, which aired on 19 August and also featured Hayden-Johnson.
The now 52-year-old completely fabricated that her young son, Mathew, was suffering from an exhaustive list of health conditions and that he was 'Britain's sickest child.'
With tampered urine samples and lies, she fooled doctors into performing several needless operations and even more general anaesthetics, as well as fitting a feeding tube, as she said he couldn't swallow, and providing him with a wheelchair in which he spent most of his time. All by the age of six.
The deceit finally crumbled in 2007 - not before several TV appearances, thousands raised from charities and disability benefits and free holiday gifts - when doctors raised the alarm.
Though he hasn't spoken to his mum for two years due to her 'lack of change' and treatment of Laura, Matthew has managed to 'forgive her' and says she 'deserves peace.'
He told The Telegraph: "What other option do I have? I can’t hold the hate over her. I wish her the best.
"I just want to move on with my life."
Laura fears she was abused as well
Laura, meanwhile, has looked at her own medical records in the years since and believes she could have been a target for her mother's abuse as well.
"She was claiming I was having seizures and I was being put on very strong medication for it until I was six or seven," she told the Mail.
"I was attending lots of appointments. There is mention of safeguarding concerns."
Laura doesn't remember that time her self but hasn't suffered any seizures since. Laura also revealed her mother lied to her about having a twin sibling that died in the womb with her.
The moment Laura realised her mum was lying
Doctors sussed Hayden-Johnson's web of lies when she failed to bring Matthew in for three days of blood tests which would have revealed there was nothing, in fact, wrong with him at all.
For Laura, the truth hit her aged six when they were in hospital as Matthew had just had an operation, one of his 325 medical encounters.
"We were meant to be going on a cruise that had been donated to us, and Matthew and I were really excited. But the doctors said there was no way he could go; he needed to go home and rest," she said.
"We were both in tears and my mum said: 'Look, we are going to go, but when the doctors come back in, keep crying so it looks like we’re not going.'
"I knew that lying wasn’t right but I loved my mum. I wasn’t old enough to understand that it wasn’t OK and wasn’t normal."
Speaking in Love You To Death, Hayden-Johnson maintains she didn't do anything wrong, saying: "How can I be Britain’s most evil mother? I just did my best, that’s all I did.
"I never smacked my children. I never did anything like that. I never hurt them in any way."
Daniel Murphy