I was guinea pig for ‘Britain’s most evil’ mum who performed depraved acts on my little brother…I still hear his screams

WATCHING her gravely ill little brother Matthew scream in pain while their mother Lisa Hayden-Johnson inserted a feeding tube into him as a child is a memory that still haunts Laura, now 27, to this day. Lisa was known as a doting mum to Matthew, who’d been dubbed “Britain’s Sickest Child”, but it later turned out to all be a lie fabricated by the sick mum – and chillingly Laura later realised she’d also been used as a “test subject”. As an adult, Laura Johnson learned she was a ‘test trial’ for what happened to brother Matthew Credit: Pete Cuthbert Lisa Hayden-Johnson had Matthew treated for diabetes, cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis Credit: TNA Lisa said Matthew was allergic to almost every food, had to be fed through a tube and needed an oxygen tank, wheelchair and a cocktail of drugs for illnesses including diabetes, cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis. In the Channel 4 documentary, Love You To Death, Laura, Matthew and Lisa herself give their accounts of how Lisa went from being seen as a selfless, loving parent to being dubbed “Britain’s most evil mother,” as it was revealed the only person making Matthew sick was herself. Now, in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Laura tells us how, as the older sibling, her childhood was ripped apart and how the full extent of what her mother did to them both, gives her nightmares. She says: “It was only recently I realised that her behaviour before Matthew was born was weird. “I must have been in Year Four at primary school when a friend told me there was a picture of me inside the doors of the arts and crafts cupboard. “I had a look and there was a note from my mum to the teacher saying that if I was staring into the distance, they needed to contact an ambulance. “I kind of accepted it until a couple of years ago when I downloaded the NHS app and I got my medical records and read reports where my mum was claiming I was having fits and seizures, saying I was in and out of hospital. “But I have no memory of that at all. I was on seizure medication until the age of six or seven. “I was like a test subject for my mum. It had happened to me first, before she switched to Matthew.” Laura, now 27, remembers the early years of her childhood, growing up in a seaside house in Brixham, Devon with her cherubic baby brother and mum and dad, Lisa and Chris, fondly. When she was born, her mother called her “Princess” because, recalls Laura Johnson, “She said I came out looking beautiful.” A second child, Matthew, was born two years later in 2001. “They were brilliant parents,” she tells us. “My dad was absolutely besotted with my mum. “He used to work on the banana counter at Morrisons, so mum did nearly all of the childcare.” But those good memories are cruelly short for Laura, who quickly found herself in a new role of helping her mum, Lisa, care around the clock for her little brother, who was born prematurely and needed constant attention. Lisa was diagnosed with Fabrication Induced Illness and was sentenced to 39 months in jail Credit: SWNS Laura says she’s struggled to move on and what her mother did still gives her nightmares Credit: Channel 4 After a police investigation exposed her years of lying, Lisa Hayden-Johnson was given a 39-month sentence for child cruelty and perverting the course of justice between 2001 and 2007. She was diagnosed with the rare condition of Munchausen by Proxy (now known as Fabrication Induced Illness) – a form of abuse in which an individual, usually the mother, feigns, exaggerates or induces illness in her own child in order to gain attention and sympathy. She was released in 2011, having served 19 months. “I get told a lot by people to just move on,” Laura says. “But it’s hard because my whole life was flipped upside down.” At a time when she should have been enjoying the best years of her young life, she became carer not only for her brother but also her father – and then her mother. Even as an adult she has learnt disturbing new truths, like the shocking realisation that she was a “test trial” for what happened to Matthew and learning from family members, that her mother’s claim that she had a twin who died in utero was false. Despite it all, Laura remains level-headed and even holds a certain amount of sympathy for her mother, but admits that her feelings are “difficult and conflicting” switching between sympathy and anger. But she holds the slimmest hope that, having heard their side of the story, her mum might finally apologise. “I hope she will maybe start to appreciate the harm she did cause to me and Matthew, but I don’t think she’ll ever fully be able to process that and acknowledge that to the point where she apologises for it correctly,” she says. “I don’t want a, ‘Sorry that happened, but that wasn’t my fault.’ I want a real apology, and, in my heart, I don’t think that will ever happen. “The only way bridges could be made is if she went and got help and actually proved that. Matthew, pictured with Laura, Lisa and dad Chris, says his mother has no remorse for what she’s done Credit: Alamy Laura can still remember Matthew screaming when his feeding tube needed replacing Credit: Laura & Matthew Johnson “But it’s something that she’s been offered multiple times and she’s just in complete denial that she needs any help at all.” Despite his shockingly abusive early years which saw him in and out of hospital and undergoing nine general anaesthetics and four invasive operations before he was six, Matthew feels like it was his sister who suffered the greatest. “Because I was so young at the time, my memories are very fragmented and I think that’s played a part in how I’ve been able to move on a bit quicker than Laura,” he tells us. “There’s not much pain I remember and I don’t have that feeling of having missed out on experiences because I don’t remember ever having the chance to have them in the first place. “Making the documentary was helpful for me to gain information and has kind of helped me put it behind me further. “I was concerned about my mum taking part in it, but I sort of knew that if she was asked, then she would want to take part in the narrative. “But I was quite taken back by what she says in the documentary. “She clearly has no remorse or understanding of what she’s done. “With Laura being older, it impacted her more than it did me. I know she’s strong but I do believe she struggled with it.” Laura admits she still has nightmares from her traumatic past. She adds: “I have big memories of hospitals, doctors and nurses. These are things I still dream about now and have nightmares – seeing Matthew as this little boy who just looked so unwell. “Every other day his feeding tube needed replacing. What is Munchausen syndrome? MUNCHAUSEN syndrome is a psychological condition where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of illness in themselves. People with Munchausen syndrome can behave in a number of different ways, including: Pretending to have psychological symptoms – for example, claiming to hear voices or claiming to see things that are not really there Pretending to have physical symptoms – for example, claiming to have chest pain or a stomach ache Actively trying to get ill – such as deliberately infecting a wound by rubbing dirt into it The condition is complex and poorly understood, though it’s thought it could be brought on by emotional trauma or personality disorders. Source: NHS “I would be in bed when I would suddenly hear Matthew kicking up a fuss. He would be screaming, like he was being stabbed. “I remember being petrified for him and feeling helpless because I couldn’t help him. “Now, as an adult, I can still hear him screaming.” After her mum went to prison and Laura and Matthew moved with their dad to Sheffield, Laura continued to feel the weight of responsibility on her young shoulders. She says: “My dad struggled to get over what had happened and unlike Matthew, who was enjoying being a normal, healthy boy and making friends at school, I missed my old friends and was bullied at school. “I felt like an outsider and my confidence went completely downhill. “I think my dad struggled with that. “He became quite closed off emotionally, I think probably to protect his own feelings, understandably so, but because of that, our relationship changed. “I don’t think my dad really knew how to look after a young girl. I needed my mum.” At their mother’s request, Laura and Matthew had started visiting her after her release from prison, with a social worker in attendance. “Eventually, I had a massive breakdown at home and that’s when my mum said, ‘Well, why don’t you move in with me?’ I didn’t think anything bad could come from it.” Laura was then 16 and at first enjoyed life with mum, going shopping with her and feeling like they were bonding. “I was so focused on having a good time that my brain switched off about what she had done,” she says. But then Lisa’s craving for drama and attention turned on herself as she complained of being unwell and needed Laura to push her around in a wheelchair. Lisa would also regularly regress into a five-year old, watching Peppa Pig and self-harming herself. “I was like a carer again,” says Laura. When she decided she’d had enough and moved out, Lisa was suddenly well again. “From a young age I’d had it drilled in to me to care for other people,” says Laura. “That shifted from caring for Matthew to helping my dad through a difficult time to then moving in with my mum and caring for her. “It was something that came natural to me that I felt I needed to do. “I just wanted to look after her and protect her from herself, really.” Laura had been let down once, as a young girl, when all the focus was on Matthew. Lisa cradling Laura as a newborn, before all the drama began Credit: Laura Johnson Everyone thought Matthew was gravely ill as a little boy Credit: Pete Cuthbert Now, having given her mother a second chance, she was sadly let down again. She and Matthew cut all ties with their mother, who has since re-married and says she is “happy, living an amazing life, married to the most amazing guy”. Laura, who lives with her partner of seven years and works in childcare and Matthew, who lives on his own and works in admin and enjoys a good circle of friends, remain on good terms with their father, who is now in a new relationship. Chris has always refused to have anything to do with Lisa since her lies were exposed and did not take part in the documentary. “I think he’s a bit concerned about the public attention being drawn back to it,” says Laura. “He worries because he was naturally close to mum, as her husband, and that people might think he should have stopped what she was doing. “But he wasn’t aware of it at all. “I do think he’s somewhat supportive of us in processing it in the way we have with the documentary but he just wants to put it to rest and move on himself, as well.” Laura and Matthew’s scarred childhood has cemented an unbreakable bond between them. “It’s always been me and him against everybody and that’s what solidified our relationship,” she says. “When mum went to prison, I was there for that caring role of looking after him, making sure he was okay mentally and also when he was feeling physically poorly. “We will always have a strong bond because it’s not a normal kind of sibling relationship. “It’s more that we’re both there to support each other because we know exactly what each other’s gone through. We can relate like that.” “It definitely plays a big part,” adds Matthew. “We’ve always been close and still are. “Having the support of someone who has been on that same journey is nice. “It’s comforting to be able to deal with it together, rather than on our own.” All three parts of Love You To Death are now available to stream on Channel 4.