It’s always reassuring knowing that there are companies out there that exist to make life easier for people who are struggling and maybe deserve to have some good news. One of those companies is Wish for a Wedding, a British charity that grants money to brides with chronic or terminal illnesses like cancer, so that they can have a happy ending. The company collects used wedding dresses and partners with professionals that offer their services at cost so the couple has minimum expenses. But as long as charities like this exist, there are people that are going to do their best to take advantage of them.
Carla Louise Evans was one of these people, looking for a handout and going out of her way to make Wish for a Wedding believe that she had bladder cancer and liver failure. Police say that Evans forged the signature of a hospital consultant on her medical forms to start the process. Once she had the documentation, she reached out to the charity in hopes that they would cover over $18,000 of her wedding, and with Wish for a Wedding’s policy, Evans would only have to pay around $600 for her dream wedding.
To Wish for a Wedding, everything checked out so they began planning some of the big details of the Evans’s wedding. They didn’t run into any hiccups until they checked in with Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital where Evans was supposedly receiving treatment. Upon contacting the hospital, they found some shocking news. They found out she wasn’t a patient there and never had been, so they did the reasonable thing to do and they called the police.
They learned that Evans didn’t have any form of cancer and wasn’t suffering from liver failure either; she had been lying the whole time.
After the police got involved things started to speed up. Evans was charged with fraud by false representation, and pleaded guilty. She could face anywhere between 26 weeks and 3 years in prison for her crimes. Currently she is free on bond and has no prior convictions to take into account. Her official sentencing will take place on Aug. 6th.
“This woman sent in an application saying she had a terminal illness. We always have check to make sure they have the illness and that they only have a few months to live. We brought in the police after doing checks on Carla Evans’s application and finding out she had lied.” said Rachel Kirkwood, who set up the charity Wish for a Wedding. It’s unfortunate that people like Evans are out there and think that they can get away with things like this. Lucky for Wish for a Wedding they did their homework and were able to catch the crook before they wasted good funds on someone who didn’t deserve it, and can hopefully turn it around and spend it on someone who does.
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