Therapist fleeced clients of cash

 

A counsellor who brainwashed an alcoholic client into handing over nearly £250,000 has been told she faces a lengthy jail sentence.

 

Mary McCullagh, who was living in Fordingbridge, Hants, told Nicole Anderson she would return the cash once she inherited a fictitious £9m estate.

 

The therapist also gained the estate agent's sympathy by saying she had MS and was dying of lung cancer.

 

McCullagh, 59, was found guilty of 13 deception charges on Tuesday.

 

The court heard how Miss Anderson had been referred to McCullagh's practice in Bournemouth, Dorset, in 1997.

 

Over a period of three years she sold her stake in the family business and other assets, cashed in investments and even took out loans to raise funds for McCullagh.

 

Miss Anderson told the jury the therapist had encouraged her to drink as much as she wanted, saying she could have a fatal fit if she stopped.

 

She told the court: "It was fantastic news. Any alcoholic wants to be told that they can drink."

 

The court also heard how McCullagh brainwashed Miss Anderson into believing her family were trying to section her and she should break contact with them.

 

When she finally reported the matter to the police in 2000 she had handed over almost £250,000.

 

The jury at Bournemouth Crown Court also heard that when Miss Anderson had begun running out of money, McCullagh moved on to a second victim, David Oliver.

 

The court heard how, she embarked on an affair with him and tricked him into giving her £9,000, which she said she needed to fund psychological treatment for her son in America.

Previous convictions

 

McCullagh, who now lives in Wexford, Ireland, chose not to give evidence during the trial.

 

She denied 12 counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception and one count of obtaining property by deception, but was found guilty on all 13 counts.

 

Judge Beashel heard that McCullagh had several previous convictions for fraud and was jailed for a month in 1981.

 

She looked ahead expressionless as he told her: "The extent of your dishonesty is simply breathtaking and you face a long prison sentence for these cynical offences."

 

Sentencing was adjourned for reports to be made and the judge ordered a confiscation hearing to be held at a later date.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/5257298.stm

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Evil Woman:angry:

Therapists take the same hypocratic oath as all doctors, including vowing to 'do no harm'. These are the people we trust with our lives...sad.