Woman jailed over bizarre scam linked to mother and daughter 'suicide pact'

A fraudster has been jailed for three years for a bizarre and elaborate extortion plot during which she threatened a mother and daughter who were driven to take their own lives.

Linsey Cotton, 33, described in court as wicked and cruel, invented a cast of characters in a bid to woo Michael McDonough, an RAF corporal, and obtain money from him.

The convoluted scam left his mother Margaret and sister Nicola fearing they were about to be imprisoned or killed.

Terrified by the prospect of being jailed, Mrs McDonough, 52, and her 23-year-old daughter, booked into the Premier Inn in Greenock where they were found with severe slashing wounds. Both died a short time later.

They took their own lives days after being convinced by Cotton in May 2013 that they had broken the law by breaching a confidentiality clause relating to the medical treatment of Mr McDonough’s girlfriend, a fictitious blonde student that Cotton had made up.

The single mother-of-two from West Lothian invented the phantom girlfriend, a bogus stem medical trial, a fictitious murdering doctor and a non-existent government cover-up in what Sheriff Robert Fife described as an “extraordinary, complex web of deceit and lies”.

Jailing her for three years at Paisley Sheriff Court, he said she was guilty of "wicked, controlling and manipulative behaviour".

Cotton used 15 phones, two laptops and two tablet computers during the con trick and at different points played the role of a nurse, a barrister and government officials.

She began the deception in 2012 by setting up a fake profile on the dating site Plenty of Fish, using the name Stephanie, before beginning an online and telephone relationship with Mr McDonough, a corporal at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray.

She then claimed “Steph” had been attacked and was in hospital with bleeding on the brain, where she had chosen for a pioneering stem cell trial.

To stop Mr McDonough visiting she said Steph was being moved around different hospitals and had signed a confidentiality agreement. The web of lies became even more complex when she told him a doctor had tried to kill Steph with drugs, and that the government was involved in covering it up.

Convinced his “girlfriend” was in danger and needed money he handed over nearly £5,000. She also tricked him into buying Steph an expensive pendant for her birthday and an engagement ring costing nearly £2,000.

While maintaining the elaborate fiction with the McDonough family, Cotton put a picture of the ring on her own Facebook page and told friends they were engaged.

When Mr McDonough told his mother about his girlfriend’s illness, she told her daughter. Cotton – by this time playing the role of “Steph’s friend” – then met them and persuaded them they would be jailed for breaking the fictitious confidentiality agreement.

Miss McDonough was said to be “in hysterics” and was physically sick with worry after Cotton began sending messages from a fake lawyer advising the mother and daughter to flee abroad, and asking for thousands of pounds to help with the process.

Mrs McDonough and her daughter were found fatally injured in the hotel just three days after Cotton when to their home in Paisley. She was jailed after earlier pleading guilty to fraud, falsely threatening the pair with prison and conning Mr McDonough out of money and gifts.