Welcome to the fifth instalment of The Real Carrie Jade, a podcast about deception, victimisation, and what happens when you try to dupe a pack of determined reporters.
In last week's episode, Samantha Cookes was convicted of stealing while posing as a psychologist in Cork, a crime for which she received a four-month suspended sentence.
So far, Samantha has been an au pair, an occupational therapist, and a child psychologist, but this week, our protagonist will lean into a new role, one that would bring her so much more than monetary gain...
Lucy Fitzwilliams, Lucy Fitzpatrick and Rebecca Fitzgerald are about to become figures of the past: Introducing Carrie Jade Williams, the award-winning writer.
A quick message for readers (and listeners) that this episode touches on suicide, so please take care.
If you’re not updated on the previous four instalments, like the show's hundreds of thousands of loyal listeners, stop reading and start streaming here - because nobody likes spoilers.
However, if you are a religious follower, then keep scrolling for the full scoop on episode five: I’m a victim!
The Storyteller
Listeners of the podcast will likely have deduced that Samantha Cookes has mental health problems. But these struggles gave her remarkable abilities at telling stories unfortunately, she did not use her skills for good…
Throughout the podcast, the same word is used to describe Samantha’s tales - "believable." Whether it was a parent, a school or a landlord, nobody seemed immune to her charm.
She wrote an essay in 2020 entitled 'My Brain Is in a War It Will Lose’ outlying the (made up) reality of living with her disability.
She said she could no longer physically write and needed ‘assistive technology’ to work. Her essay even included the computer commands she required to compose the piece.
She describes mundane encounters in M&S through the eyes of someone with a degenerative brain disease, peppering her sentences with dark humour and sharp observations.
While we all know this essay is a work of utter fiction, the judges of the leading short story competition in the UK did not.
And that’s how our protagonist came to win the prestigious contest hosted by The Financial Times newspaper and Bodley Head publishers.
Her prize was a thousand pounds and instant fame.
Con artists often seek introductions to worm their way into people’s lives, they are "verified by association." By winning the Financial Times short story award, Samantha was given the ultimate introduction to the writing world.
And this is how she came to get slots on Newstalk, the hit UK podcast The Guilty Feminist and found her way into the lives of the Doc On One team.
Once completed, as I hold the page, I can’t help but feel betrayed. When my work is finished, edited, and polished, although it ends up digestible for the world, it somehow does so by making my experience less
- Extract from essay by Samantha Cookes
The Tenant
When producer Ronan Kelly visited Samantha (Carrie Jade) in Caherciveen Co. Kerry, at the start of this series, she spoke about her close relationship with her landlady.
It was true the pair did have an excellent rapport until they didn’t…
Samantha’s (Carrie Jade) former landlady spoke to the podcast. She said Samantha was originally a fantastic tenant who claimed to be a writer and Covid safety officer. Then the complaints started…
Samantha tirelessly complained about her noisy neighbours until the landlady felt compelled to ask the other tenants to leave.
Then, in classic form, Samantha announced she was leaving. The landlady said she had to give a month’s notice or would forfeit her deposit.
Samantha left anyway.
It wasn’t until she entered Samantha’s apartment that she realised her dream tenant was actually the stuff of nightmares… to hear about what she found press play now.
But that wasn’t the last she’d hear of Samantha Cookes because the landlady was about to receive a complaint from the Residential Tenancies Board for withholding a deposit without the grounds to do so.
That’s right, after driving out her other tenants and abandoning this woman’s property without notice, Samantha was going to force her into mediation, and Samantha would win.
I started getting phone calls in the middle of the night from her. And on St. Stephen's morning, she rang and she was complaining like mad
- Former landlady of Samantha Cookes
Kenmare
After Samantha’s quick exit from Caherciveen, she headed for the other side of Kerry, to Kenmare and began her next chapter.
However, this was a tactical decision, as she already knew a woman living in the town.
This woman had lost her mother and was estranged from her daughter. In other words, she was vulnerable.
Samantha (Carrie Jade) used this woman as a way to meet other local people.
In the autumn of 2021, the woman's daughter died by suicide. Samantha took this indescribable loss and turned it into an opportunity…
She arrived at the lady's door when the news broke and stayed with her as she arranged the funeral.
At the funeral, the mother said Samantha behaved like a "chief mourner" despite never having met her daughter. She even read a poem at the pulpit.
In the aftermath of her daughter's suicide people started to post fake and hurtful comments about the woman. So, of course, Samantha capitalised on this and became embroiled in online conversations about the death and relayed all the malicious, cruel words back to the grieving mother.
The woman pleaded with her to stop, and sometimes Samantha paused for a few weeks, before reaching out again.
Eventually the woman wrote an email and text to ask for an indefinite break from their friendship. It was just before the scattering of her daughter's ashes, which Samantha was supposed to attend.
And it got to the point where I said to her and I had said to her several times you know stop being in contact with these people. You don’t know them, it is not appropriate and never mind that but you’ve never actually met my daughter and she still kept doing it
- Female victim of Samantha Cookes
Will There Be A Phone In Heaven?
During this period (or rather scam) Samantha was not merely writing, but teaching, giving talks and offering writing mentorships. By the conclusion of 2021, she was telling people that Netflix was releasing a documentary about her life.
She also published another essay about talking to children about terminal illness and death. It was called - ‘Will there be a phone in heaven?’
The essay was based on a question Carrie Jade’s (non-existent) six-year-old Goddaughter asked her.
In the piece, she details how she broached the subject of death with all her young Goddaughters. She details putting together a plan with a therapist and sending den-building kits and fairy lights to the (fake) children’s parents so they could snuggle up and start a conversation about heaven.
Samantha was slowly morphing into the character of Carrie Jade Williams.
"You know one day we will all go to Heaven," she’d said gently. "Aunt Carrie might get there before us. You know how she likes to be on time for everything"
- Extract from an essay by Samantha Cookes
Good Neighbour
Despite her friend cutting all ties, Samantha remained in Kenmare. She rented a three-bedroom semi-detached house, where she soon found a new target right next door.
Chloe first spoke to Samantha (Carrie Jade) outside her house; she thought she was a friendly, single, professional woman. So, like many before her, she opened up to Samantha, in this case, about her precarious housing situation.
Of course, our protagonist had a solution to all her woes. She told Chloe she had a seat on The Women’s Council of Ireland and could help her. The pair sat down for two hours, according to Chloe, who spoke directly to the podcast and unpacked her situation.
Samantha promised her a starter pack of forms was arriving, but after a few weeks, Chloe thought maybe Samantha’s Huntington’s disease was impacting her sense of reality.
Like always, more cracks soon started to appear, and so Chloe tried to distance herself from her inquisitive neighbour.
But Samantha was nearly always outside waiting for Chloe or her children to step into her firing line…
Always looking out the top window, always talking to my kids. She gave them bubbles. She gave them toys
- Chloe, victim of Samantha Cookes
Superhost
Samantha had two money-making ventures on the go in Kenmare. The first involved claiming to make equipment for disabled children via a 3D printer and selling these (non-existent) products to vulnerable families, often with disabled children.
Like Krissie, a single mother, Samantha took £250 from her with the promise of sensory items for her disabled son.
The second scheme consisted of putting her rental home on the Airbnb market without the landlord's permission (obviously).
But instead of keeping her scheme on the down low, Samantha claimed in a TikTok that two (fake) Airbnb customers were suing her for a "life-changing amount of money."
She claimed a French couple who had stayed at the property were filing complaints because she had a disability. TikTok did not react well.
Soon, creators galore came to Samantha’s (Carrie Jade’s) aid, including the popular creator Maz. She asked her followers to support Samantha, but little did she know this free publicity was sending an influx of customers right to Samantha’s door (literally)
Maz then received a message that would completely change the narrative on Samantha she was peddling to her followers…
I can't believe that we have got to the point where we are having to defend somebody for just being in the same room as someone else. And because they're disabled. It's a terminal illness. At the end of the day, this woman has no choice...
Extract from video by Maz, victim of Samantha Cookes
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