Man and woman charged with embezzlement of funds for ‘smiling warrior’ boy who died after cancer fight
A Scottish couple have been arrested and charged by police investigating a celebrity-backed fundraiser for a dying child with cancer, LBC can reveal.
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Stars including Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Paul O’Grady and Katie Price shared messages of support and donated thousands to a GoFundMe appeal which was set up in February 2021 to find more than £200,000 for Nathaniel Nabena's treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Former This Morning presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield - as well as national newspapers - also raised awareness about the tragic story of the then nine-year-old boy from Nigeria.
He had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia while visiting the UK to have a prosthetic eye fitted after losing it to Myeloid Sarcoma and given just months live without a stem cell transplant.
Nathaniel was not eligible for NHS treatment as he was not a UK citizen, but was too ill to travel back to his home country.
Doctors at GOSH were so moved by Nathaniel's story they waived their private fees, reducing the overall cost from more than £825,000 to £201,000.
The sum needed was successfully raised by May 2021 through the high profile campaign and donations to the online page - which listed Sharyn McInally-Johnston, 39, from Perthshire, as its organiser.
But his treatment was ultimately paid for by the NHS after an unexpected eleventh-hour Home Office decision saw Nathaniel become eligible for health service care just two days before his operation.
When Nathaniel tragically passed away just over a year later in August 2022 aged just 10 after catching an infection, the fundraising page stated 'anything remaining will be used to start a charity in Nathaniel's name to help other children with blood cancer'.
However we understand Nathaniel’s dad Ebisidor contacted authorities after struggling to find answers as to where that money has gone.
And now LBC can reveal that Sharyn McInally-Johnston and Mark McInally-Johnston, 44, have been arrested in connection with the Police Scotland investigation into the fundraiser and charged with embezzlement.
They appeared at Stirling Sheriff Court in July where they made no plea.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "A 39-year-old woman and 44-year-old man have been arrested and charged in connection with an embezzlement.
"A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal."
The Procurator Fiscal Service is the national prosecution authority for Scotland.
LBC has approached GoFundMe for comment.