My Boyfriend the MI5 Hoaxer

First Broadcast: 2.05AM Mon 15 February 2010

Nineteen-year-old Oxford jewellery shop assistant Leanne McCarthy found herself trapped in a modern nightmare of kidnap, fear and mind control when she met 23-year-old Wayne Gouveia, a sophisticated conman with a track record of duping young women.

Wayne, who worked in a whisky shop in the same street, swept Leanne off her feet on several lavish dates and they started a relationship. He then set out to cleverly and meticulously convince Leanne he was an MI5 agent, assigned to protect her shop from a ruthless gang of jewel thieves.

The couple embarked on a year of madness involving late-night stake-outs, car chases, safe-houses, narrow escapes from the gang and, in between, going to flashy hotels and on glamorous trips abroad.

But Leanne's doubts about Wayne grew as their adventures got darker and his behaviour became increasingly controlling. As she was driven to the brink of madness, getting away from him became a matter of survival.

Wayne, it turned out, was one of Britain's most disturbing hoaxers. In March 2009, he was finally jailed after conning Leanne out of thousands of pounds.

In this moving and disturbing First Cut film, Leanne revisits the places and relives the memories where her bizarre adventures took place.

  1. All Episodes

    1. Mon 15 Feb 2010

      Nineteen-year-old Oxford jewellery shop assistant Leanne McCarthy found herself trapped in a modern nightmare of…

      • This programme has episodes with subtitles available.

MORE:

  • Evelyn Burton and Laila Andre

    Crooked Tarts and Coronets

    1 Episode

    Cutting Edge tells the story of confidence tricksters Evelyn Burton and Laila Andre who fed off the English upper class and even met the Queen

  • Lord Victor Hervey

    The Real Pink Panther: Lord Victor Hervey

    1 Episode

    Victor Hervey was no run-of-the-mill aristocratic playboy, he was a criminal mastermind - or so he thought. This is the tale of the self-styled Moriarty whose grandiose fantasies led him directly to jail.

  • Christopher and Jillian Foster with their daughter Kirsty

    The Millionaire and the Murder Mansion

    1 Episode

    This Cutting Edge film explores the shocking mystery of what drove self-made millionaire Christopher Foster to destroy all he owned and everyone he loved

  • Sticks and Stones

    Sticks & Stones

    1 Episode

    Adults with disabilities speak out about their experiences of hate crime similar to that suffered by Fiona Pilkington, who was driven to kill herself and her disabled daughter after a decade of abuse

  • The Great Piano Scam

    The Great Piano Scam

    1 Episode

    This First Cut reveals an astonishing musical scam, detailing how an entire industry was conned into believing that a woman in her 70s had managed to record over 100 phenomenal CD

  • Ted Evans: The Yorkshire Clamper

    The Yorkshire Clamper

    1 Episode

    First-time director Leon Dean meets Britain's most notorious car clamper to find out why he's so proficient at stopping people from going places...

  • Vinny and wife Vicky

    Missing: Race Against Time

    1 Episode

    Every year in Britain the police receive nearly a quarter of a million calls about missing people. This Cutting Edge film follows three families' desperate searches to find loved ones.

  • Sir Harry Oakes

    Murder in Paradise

    1 Episode

    The Bahamas of 1943 provides the setting for one of the greatest unsolved crimes of the 20th century and this film reveals the findings of a five-year investigation into the brutal murder of Sir Harry Oakes

See all Documentaries