A woman is due to appear in court in connection with a police investigation into a "fake kidney donor" who allegedly promised a kidney to a severely unwell man without any intention of doing so.
A Glengormley family were contacted by someone following a Belfast Live appeal regarding Billy Cullen, who is in desperate need of a new kidney, allegedly saying that they wanted to donate their organ to him.
Over the following months the Cullen family stayed in regular contact with the person and say that they were repeatedly told by them that they wanted to donate a kidney to Billy.
Read more: Family's frustration after being 'lied to' by potential kidney donor
Read more: Glengormley family's plea to help father in desperate need of kidney transplant
However, in February, 2025, they received a call from their doctor saying Billy would need to come in urgently for dialysis, which was a shock to the Cullen's as they believe that they were due to start the transplant process and when they told the doctor that they had a kidney donor, they were told that this was not the case and nobody had been lined up to donate a kidney.
Billy's wife Joanne then messaged the person with a set of fake doctors names in order to see if the person would say if they were the doctors they had been working with regarding the donation process. The person then allegedly confirmed the fake names, with Joanne saying she knew at this point that the person had no intention of donating a kidney and had been lying to them.
The matter was reported to the police who launched an investigation to see if any potential offences had taken place.
On Tuesday, March 18, police arrested a 53-year-old woman as part of their investigation in the Belfast area, who has since been charged with a false communications offence.
She is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on Monday, April 14.
A PSNI spokesperson said: "A 53-year-old woman was arrested by police on Tuesday 18th March, in the Belfast area.
"She was interviewed and subsequently charged with the offence of false communications.
"The woman is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 14th April.
"As is usual procedure, the charge will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service."
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