THE parents of a Gwynedd child who died aged five months have been left angry at discovering their support worker had defrauded the charity she worked for.

Partners Paul Smith, 37, and Keri Pemberton, 31, who live in Criccieth, lost son Leo in November 2020, which Paul said was due to sudden infant death syndrome.

They then received support at their own home from Stephanie Jones, representing “2Wish”, a charity supporting those affected by a child or young person’s sudden death.

But Jones, 30, of Tai Newyddion, Nebo, Caernarfon, was jailed for 12 months last week after it transpired she had submitted 19 false invoices to make gains of £3,570 from the charity.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard that Jones lied to 2Wish about having a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in sociology, and about losing a twin sister called Sarah to cancer aged five.

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For Paul and Keri, also parents to Logan, five, the truth only came to light on March 22, the day Jones was jailed.

Paul said: “It was a mixture of emotions; of anger, of upset… it puts you back to those unimaginably dark days after it happened.

“She was sat in our house when we were at our most vulnerable, in our darkest of days. We put our trust and faith in her, and she betrayed that.

“When someone tells you that they’ve been through this, too, it gives you some comfort, because you think they understand how it feels.

“To hear that it was all a lie made us extremely angry. We don’t understand how someone can lie about this. It’s sickening.”

North Wales Chronicle: Keri and Paul with Leo and LoganKeri and Paul with Leo and Logan (Image: Keri Pemberton)

Keri added: “It makes me feel very frustrated and angry that she betrayed people’s trust.

“She entered our home to support us; to listen to people who are going through the hardest time in their lives.

“She was sat there, knowing full well that everything she was saying was a complete lie.

“It makes you think that she didn’t actually care about anything we were going through. Finding all of this out has just put us in a low place again.

“The sentence, in my eyes, is not long enough.”

Paul, who works in Blaenau Ffestiniog for polymer business Rehau, and Keri, who works in telesales for Harlech Foodservice, had moved house not long before Leo’s death.

It was when Keri got out of bed to get a drink, only to find Leo unresponsive when she went to check on him, that an ambulance was called.

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Paul performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Leo at the top of their stairs while they waited, and when the ambulance arrived, the family had to travel to Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor in a separate vehicle due to COVID-19 restrictions.

By the time they had arrived at the hospital, Paul said, Leo had been pronounced dead.

The heartache which came with losing their son left the family unable to return to, or even drive past, their new home for a number of weeks, staying with Keri’s father nearby instead.

Paul said: “We really were devastated. It was a real struggle to come back here; I came back first, but it took Keri a bit longer.

“The hospital passed on our details (to 2Wish), and she (Jones) first visited us at Keri’s dad’s home, then met us back at our house not long after.

“One of the first times we were at our house was when met her here. She said she was local, and that she’d been through it herself with her twin sister.

“She was slightly empathetic, if a touch on the cold side. Some people you meet for the first time and just get along; she wasn’t like that.

“We saw her two or three times, and then it suddenly just stopped.”

Jones’ role at 2Wish, which she began in February 2020, was as an immediate support worker, which made her responsible for death referrals.

It was her job to offer immediate support to families before being referred to counsellors.

Yet to families such as Leo’s between August 2020 and January 2021, Jones posed as a counsellor herself, as well as creating her own stories about dead children and the reactions of their relatives.

Jones was also said to have made a referral about a person she went to school with who had been murdered, whose family the police later visited in their investigation into Jones’ offending.

Despite suffering this additional trauma, Paul still holds 2Wish in the highest regard, and added his gratitude for the support and kindness the charity has offered his family.

He said: “We’re still grateful for everything the charity did. We know it’s not their fault. We don’t want to paint the charity in a bad light, because they’ve been brilliant.

“They gave Logan a ‘memory box’ containing a toy elephant (the 2Wish mascot, ‘Gorgeous George’).

“He still has that elephant, sleeps with it every night, and refuses to go anywhere without it. It means the world to him, because he associates that elephant with Leo.

“Keri and I have matching tattoos, both of elephants, with Leo’s name. That’s how much the charity helped us and means to us.”

2wish also contacted Keri personally following Jones’ sentencing, Paul said.

The full amount taken from 2Wish by Jones, who Judge Nicola Saffman called a “chronic liar” before sentencing her to prison, was repaid in full, the court heard.

Paul added: “It hasn’t changed our opinion of the charity one bit.

“I can’t speak highly enough of them. They do so much at such a difficult time for you. I couldn’t ever think any less of them because of one individual.

“I’ve not come to terms with it, but I’ve found that, through various bits of therapy, I’m quite happy to talk about Leo. I never want to not talk about him; we talk about him every day.

“I think it makes you cherish every moment, because you don’t know what’s around the corner. In some ways, it’s given me a new appreciation for life.

“He’s always going to be our son.”

Rhian Mannings, chief executive of 2Wish, founded the charity after the loss of her son and husband in 2012.

She said: “Everyone at 2Wish is deeply saddened and disappointed by this clear breach of trust from Ms Jones.

“We would like to thank North Wales Police for all of their hard work and support throughout the investigation.

“We would also like to reassure anyone who works with 2Wish – whether this is through fundraising or any other type of support – that the services we provide have in no way been affected as a result of this breach.

“We continue to provide support to families who have experienced the sudden loss of a child or adult under 25.”