A serial fraudster has been sentenced to two years in prison after being caught claiming she had terminal cancer in an attempt to defraud her insurer out of more than £130,000.
Gemma Goodwin of Brent Way, Dartford, in Kent forged medical documents stating she had breast, lung and cervical cancer, and was given just one to two years to live.
She was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years and a six-month electronically-tagged curfew today at Woolwich Crown Court.
In 2015, Goodwin took out a life insurance policy with a UK insurer. Her policy included a terminal illness benefit, meaning meaning she would receive the equivalent death benefit payment if diagnosed with a terminal condition carrying a life expectancy of less than 12 months.
Terminal cancer diagnosis claim
Three years later, Goodwin emailed the insurer to tell them she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had around a year to live.
During correspondence with her insurer, she asked how she could claim in order to support her three children and to make funeral arrangements.
Goodwin contacted the insurance company two months after her initial report, saying that she did not wish to proceed with the claim; however, she did want to nominate a beneficiary to manage the claim upon her death. A friend from work took on this role.
With her beneficiary in place, Goodwin submitted the relevant forms for the claim to her insurer, including a letter from a local hospital confirming her diagnosis and prognosis: stage two breast cancer, stage two cervical cancer and stage four lung cancer, with a life expectancy of one to two years.
In response to the documents, the insurer asked for details of Goodwin’s medical condition and history directly from the NHS. The request prompted Goodwin to cancel her claim.
The department at the hospital confirmed Goodwin was not a current patient and had not been in the past.
In January 2019 – five months after the insurance company discovered the medical records had been forged – Goodwin contacted her insurer once again to report that she had just two to three months left to live.
Goodwin sent multiple correspondences to her insurer during the year to make changes to her policy, including the removal of her nominated beneficiary.
At the end of 2019, the insurer wrote to Goodwin informing her the policy had been cancelled with immediate effect due to evidence indicating the claim was fraudulent.
The nominated beneficiary was interviewed by the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) explaining to officers that she had met Goodwin in 2012 through work and the pair soon became friends.
Over the course of their seven-year friendship, Goodwin repeatedly lied to her friend about the state of her health, claiming to have both lupus and various forms of cancer.
The friend revealed that Goodwin had even shaved her head at one point and has explored travelling to the US to receive treatment.
Further investigation uncovered an online fundraising page that had been created by another friend for Goodwin. Of the £2,033 raised through the page, Goodwin withdrew £1,961 to use for a holiday with her children.
Enjoyed the attention
When later interviewed, Goodwin admitted to committing the fraud, claiming that she enjoyed the attention she received from being ‘ill’.
She also declared she had typed the letter from the hospital herself, using an internet search engine to find a doctor’s name to sign the form with.
Commenting on the case, Detective Constable Kim Negus, from IFED, said: “Goodwin is a deceitful and shameless individual, exploiting a devastating illness for personal financial gain.
“What’s worse is that this is not the first time she has attempted to cheat the system, having previously been convicted for fraudulently claiming housing and long-term illness benefits.
“Goodwin clearly has no remorse when it comes to her fraudulent activity, but she should know by now that the truth will always be uncovered in the end.”