Believe in Magic (Podcast)

[Milliemoo99]

Long day waiting today....so binge watched all 3 episodes!!!! OMG Its awful. But definitely worth a watch. to the end!!

Its very carefully constructed, across the 3 episodes! With a lot of to camera interviews with people who knew Meg and Jean. Having read the previous pages, I think it gives a lot of answers to the questions raised!!

Spoiler: some of the answers from the last episode!

One of the main interviewees is Megs older sister, Nina I think they are full sisters, but couldnt quite work it out! The first episodes cover the starting of the charity and the expose of the charitable fraud that was being committed and how it was exposed. The last episode is about Meg and her illness and drug addiction to painkillers, that was stopped by the NHS and then privately funded via dodgy dealing with the Harrods pharmacy! Jean has to have been heavily involved in all the munchhousen by proxy stuff, convincing Meg that she had a brain tumour when she didnt. The funeral was stopped at the last minute because someone made a complaint to GOSH, or a major london hospital to check exactly what she died of, and they asked the police to intervene and have an inquest.

 

[Milliemoo99]

Meg did have some kind of hypertension in her brain as a teenager, that caused her headaches, She did have a stent fitted, and she was pulled out of school when she was 13.
So she had an illness, but after she left school, her life was very controlled by her mother. She was tested for brain cancer, but the results were negative. But is sounds as if Jean pretended it was real and started a huge drug regime for Meg to start. and told everyone that Meg was ill.

Some of the early aspects of the charity sound amazing, and it did start by doing some incredible things for some very ill children. with the help of one direction and their families it did do some incredible things.

Its also an interesting case of how influencers work! And how social media can be used to try to crush doubters, by encouraging followers to pile onto the critics!!

But poor Meg, her life was tragic!

 

[Funsizes]

Saw this yesterday kn player, going to watch it tonight, is it any good?

It was really interesting to hear from Megs friends and to see the faces of the people doubting the story. You also hear from people who were involved with the charity who had seriously ill children which makes the whole thing more upsetting

 

[Funsizes]

Won't let me just post the spoilered reply so lalala...

Long day waiting today....so binge watched all 3 episodes!!!! OMG Its awful. But definitely worth a watch. to the end!!

Its very carefully constructed, across the 3 episodes! With a lot of to camera interviews with people who knew Meg and Jean. Having read the previous pages, I think it gives a lot of answers to the questions raised!!

Spoiler: some of the answers from the last episode!

One of the main interviewees is Megs older sister, Nina I think they are full sisters, but couldnt quite work it out! The first episodes cover the starting of the charity and the expose of the charitable fraud that was being committed and how it was exposed. The last episode is about Meg and her illness and drug addiction to painkillers, that was stopped by the NHS and then privately funded via dodgy dealing with the Harrods pharmacy! Jean has to have been heavily involved in all the munchhousen by proxy stuff, convincing Meg that she had a brain tumour when she didnt. The funeral was stopped at the last minute because someone made a complaint to GOSH, or a major london hospital to check exactly what she died of, and they asked the police to intervene and have an inquest.

 

[Spidey2020]

Spoiler: Episode 3 spoilers

what wasn’t 100% clear was around scripts to Harrods pharmacy. A script was queried and an obvious forge. Had none of the previous scripts been questioned they were very odd and I suppose Harrods pharmacy would deal with more (only?)private prescriptions than most but they should have checked them long before. Also it wasn’t clear what was the deal with Jean calling and ordering the medication from the wholesaler

 

[Incywincy]

The low pressure flight to America was odd.. the pilot thought she was 10! But in the photo with him she had massive boobs (I know that's possible but still.. maybe 13 or 14.. not 10 lol).. why did her mum not go? Why did her friend not remember if she actually went to the hospital when they arrived????

That friend was so weird, I honestly thought he was in on it for a while 🫠

 

[emm]

The low pressure flight to America was odd.. the pilot thought she was 10! But in the photo with him she had massive boobs (I know that's possible but still.. maybe 13 or 14.. not 10 lol).. why did her mum not go? Why did her friend not remember if she actually went to the hospital when they arrived????

That friend was so weird, I honestly thought he was in on it for a while 🫠

Yeh same, I have more questions about it all than I had becofe. That flight was insane, how on earth were they allowed to fly in such conditions for one person. Like that?!

 

[xvictoriax]

Had heard of the charity but not the scandal of it.

Having binged the episodes last night I really find the vibe of the male friend questionable. It’s almost as if he’s very measured in his responses compared to Meg’s other friends who seem to at least see issues with both Jean and Meg even if they are more willing to see Meg as a victim. Even when presented with clear facts he’s still mumbling on about it’s impossible for Meg not to have had a brain tumour. That flight was ridiculous and again seems odd if she was so poorly and air pressure could potentially cause her significant and detrimental effects, according to Jean, for it to go ahead. It wasn’t as if she was abroad needing to get home.

 

[Insomiaflamingo]

Had heard of the charity but not the scandal of it.

Having binged the episodes last night I really find the vibe of the male friend questionable. It’s almost as if he’s very measured in his responses compared to Meg’s other friends who seem to at least see issues with both Jean and Meg even if they are more willing to see Meg as a victim. Even when presented with clear facts he’s still mumbling on about it’s impossible for Meg not to have had a brain tumour. That flight was ridiculous and again seems odd if she was so poorly and air pressure could potentially cause her significant and detrimental effects, according to Jean, for it to go ahead. It wasn’t as if she was abroad needing to get home.

Her shunt was working and so it’s safe to fly at normal height. The clicking is a sign it’s just working as it should. The pilot said he thought she was 10 but her passport said 13.

 

[TheArtisticMouse]

That male friend had weird vibes. He seemed determined to believe Jean and Meg’s story even after hearing all the facts - that line about the facts must be wrong if they don’t align with his beliefs sums up the worst parts of our society today!

I wonder if he got manipulated by Jean when he texted her after Meg died? He seemed naive and easily led.

 

[Milliemoo99]

I wondered if the flight, was part of the scam.... after they had begged for money to get her to a specialist hospital in the USA, a private plane creates the illusion of poor Meg, unable to fly in a normal plane! And one they had started, they had to continue with the flight!

I did get a bit confused by the timeline, as the show goes all over the place. I think the scam for treatment in the USA, came after Meg had tried to do a runner and to go and stay with her friends when she was 19. So her mum when she called the police, and got Meg back, then had to get Meg away from her friends, so removed her to Disney land, for months. Then when they run out of money, they had to come home again!

The male friend was .....I thought, confused and not completely clear about what had been going on! I wondered how he had got back home to the UK after the flight, or did he end up in Disney land as well?

RE the scripts from Harrods, That was so dodgy, it looked as if Jean had managed to circumvent the system, by ordering the drugs directly, without a presecription, by pretending to be a pharmacy direct!

It must be confusing as a child or young adult to not believe the adults around you that you trust. If your mum is telling you you have a brain tumour, you must be likely to believe them, and take whatever drugs you are given. especially as Meg was home schooled and didnt seem to have a lot of family around her. If the police hadnt investigated Megs death, Jean could have got away with everything without a hint of suspicion about her activities

 

[Winjas]

Jumping on your thread 🫣

But stumbled across this channel surfing and honestly it’s nothing I’d normally watch, but it intrigued me so much I then binged all three episodes.

I feel so disgusted so much by two things, that the farce continued for so long and no authority or doctors etc saw through the lies and stopped it sooner. I mean all the medical records and photos and videos of her on machines and blood lines, why wouldn’t a doctor say “go home your fine”.

Secondly how has she been allowed to get away Scott free? Not only clear abuse and possibly suspicious death, fraud. But even the charity scam, all Scott free?

Do you think this renewed interest by documentary could bring her back out, not by choice but suspect some journalist or crime blogger will hunt her down now?

 

[emm]

Jumping on your thread 🫣

But stumbled across this channel surfing and honestly it’s nothing I’d normally watch, but it intrigued me so much I then binged all three episodes.

I feel so disgusted so much by two things, that the farce continued for so long and no authority or doctors etc saw through the lies and stopped it sooner. I mean all the medical records and photos and videos of her on machines and blood lines, why wouldn’t a doctor say “go home your fine”.

Secondly how has she been allowed to get away Scott free? Not only clear abuse and possibly suspicious death, fraud. But even the charity scam, all Scott free?

Do you think this renewed interest by documentary could bring her back out, not by choice but suspect some journalist or crime blogger will hunt her down now?

I hope it brings renewed interest, what I found so crazy when I first heard Bout the case on a podcast was that it was in the uk. I'd heard of things in the US where people "doctor shop" and can go around and get drugs etc but for this to have been in the uk shocked me a lot tbh

 

[xvictoriax]

The fact that Jean blamed Meg for the faked drug prescriptions really angered me. Regardless of how she makes out the events she was involved in helping her daughter obtain and continue an addiction to medication. Is there no way she could be charged for historical child abuse. It won’t help Meg now but would perhaps serve as a warning to anyone thinking of such actions.

 

[emm]

The fact that Jean blamed Meg for the faked drug prescriptions really angered me. Regardless of how she makes out the events she was involved in helping her daughter obtain and continue an addiction to medication. Is there no way she could be charged for historical child abuse. It won’t help Meg now but would perhaps serve as a warning to anyone thinking of such actions.

And put in more controls for the future possibly I guess

 

[LemonPledge]

I listened to the podcast a while ago and binged the documentary as soon as it was released. Such a wild story - the flight in the private jet was crazy and I’m amazed it was allowed to happen.

Shines a light on how people take advantage of the “be kind” mantra.

 

[TheArtisticMouse]

I was wondering how she was able to stage that video where she’s hooked up to the machines, if there was nothing wrong with her?

 

[Insomiaflamingo]

I was wondering how she was able to stage that video where she’s hooked up to the machines, if there was nothing wrong with her?

In the uk she had a procedure done to check on her high pressure which she was diagnosed with. In America you can pay for anything.

 

[InkHeart]

Yeah, in this country you can basically go into A&E and say you feel weird, and you can get at least a picture of you on a trolley hooked up to a heart rate monitor. She might also have gone in for a review of her head valve or something. Or... are the machines even real? They might have just had some old medical equipment lying around and stuck the wires to her, it doesn't look like anything highly specialised.

The question the TV show answered for me was whether Meg was in on the con. I believe she wasn't. When she texted her friend that Jean had said, "My life is going to be so good in a few months [when Meg is dead]", that shows that Jean was really telling Meg she was dying. When you listen to the podcast it's easy to imagine that Jean and Meg decided to set up a charity and live the high life on the money. But from the tv show I got the impression that Meg was childlike and Jean easily manipulated her.

I felt so sorry for the pilot. He was psychologically harmed by the whole thing. Imagine spending hours thinking you're going to die and that you have to make the decision to kill a child so that the other 3 people can live. (Unimportant side note, but I cringed so hard at when Meg was telling him they were getting a private plane with beds and a minibar, and then it was just a bus with wings. That's just the kind of thing that would have made me die of embarrassment when I was their age )

I couldn't figure out the male friend. I do think at the end he was basically saying, "Yes I know they did the awful things they're accused of, but it's too big for me to cope with, so I survive by telling myself it wasn't true." He might even feel guilty that charity money was spent on him going on holiday.

My other big take away was how cool the parents who investigated it were. All the Facebook sleuthing and stuff, especially when they were going through the hardest time in their lives.

It was disgusting that the charity would throw luxury events for some kids and leave others out. Especially have events at places where you couldn't take a wheelchair! For a charity like that, it should be "Either all kids can come, or we don't do the event."

 

[Web30]

The low pressure flight to America was odd.. the pilot thought she was 10! But in the photo with him she had massive boobs (I know that's possible but still.. maybe 13 or 14.. not 10 lol).. why did her mum not go? Why did her friend not remember if she actually went to the hospital when they arrived????

That friend was so weird, I honestly thought he was in on it for a while 🫠

Did he say she was 13 but looked 10? Does that mean she had a fake passport