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A Liverpool woman fabricated a story that she was dying of cancer so that her friends would contribute thousands of pounds to the cost of her dream wedding.
Toni Standen, 29, of West Derby, claimed that her ovarian cancer later spread to other parts of her body and that she had received a terminal diagnosis.
Friends launched a GoFundMe page to give Standen and his partner James “a wedding they deserve.”
But now Standen faces a prison sentence after lying about cancer to persuade his friends to contribute to the cost of his £ 8,500 wedding, the Mirror reports.
She tugged on the heart strings saying she wanted her father Derek, who was dying of cancer, to walk her down the hall.
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Derek died before the wedding, but a video was played that recorded the big day.
Guests said that after the recording was played, Standen was making jokes.
One guest said: “After listening to his father’s laborious words, he got up and made an impeccable speech, even making some jokes.
“His mother and brother were devastated. We had all just heard the message from the father of the bride from beyond the grave.
“Toni even got a video message from Everton FC, delivered by one of the best players. She laughed the whole time. “
After the wedding in Widnes, Cheshire, Standen and James, 52, went to a nearby hotel.
Witnesses say he checked the wedding cards, counting the cash they contained, before leaving for his honeymoon in Turkey.
Standen’s lie was finally exposed when he claimed to have coronavirus, raising suspicions among some friends.
Now he has been told that he is facing jail after admitting to fraud. His friends call it the “ultimate betrayal.”
Her college classmate Cheryl Aston, 33, who donated £ 525, said: “She could have won an Oscar, her performance was so good. She cheated on us all. We were all completely absorbed.
“She told me she was dying and I fell in love.”
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Cheryl, a mother of two who attended the wedding, added: “I remember her telling me that her cancer had returned and that it was terminal.
He told me that it had spread to his bones and organs. He was devastated, they all were. “
Standen spoke to ECHO last March when he recounted his battle with cancer in vivid detail.
She said: “It has gone to my brain, to my bones, it is everywhere right now, it is a very rare cancer.”
Just six days after close friends created a fundraising page, more than £ 3,400 had been donated, exceeding the original goal of £ 1,000.
She said: “I was so overwhelmed. I could not believe it. It shows that there are more good things in the world than bad. “
In April this year, she claimed to have caught Covid, but two friends decided to question her.
One said: “We called her for a three-way conversation and we recorded it. We asked him directly: ‘Do you really have cancer?’ “
“She started crying and admitted that it was all lies. We ended the call and called the police immediately.”
Standen pleaded guilty last week to misrepresentation fraud between February 2019 and April 2020.
Standen was supported by her husband James in Chester Magistrates Court. District Judge Nicholas Sanders said he committed a “horrible breach of trust.”
A judge can order Standen to repay the donations.
Outreach worker Cheryl said: “If we get something back, I will donate it to a cancer charity. There has to be some light at the end of this dark story. “
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