'A healer with mystical powers’ allegedly defrauded over £2,000 by selling fake medicines

A self-proclaimed ‘natural healer’ has defrauded over £2,000 by selling fake medicines to patients, Sheffield Crown Court has heard today.

Shona Barlowe, 53, of Sterndale Avenue, Woodseats, Sheffield, pleaded not guilty to two charges of fraud, one for around £840, and a second for £1,400.

Prosecution barrister Richard Neall told the court Barlowe has defrauded 37-year-old Elizabeth Hughton-Barnes of around £840 by selling her ‘worthless liquid which Barlowe claimed would help cure her cancer’.

Mrs Hughton-Barnes, a music teacher from Barnsley, was contacted by Barlowe after being diagnosed with throat cancer two years ago, who claimed herself as a ‘natural healer’ and to have ‘studied for thirty years ancient and mediaeval remedies’. She also claimed she had a PHD, which prosecution barrister Ms Neall said was false, adding that she had no medical qualifications.

The court heard the ‘herbal medicine’ which Barlowe charged Mrs Hughton-Barnes £30 for each bottle was just ground up watercress leaves, aspirin and pepper mixed, and how later on, Barlowe asked Mrs Hughton-Barnes to pay her for a trip to Mexico to collect rare mountain herbs that would ‘completely cure throat cancer’.

Copies of emails that Barlowe sent to a lover, in which she wrote, ‘There is a sucker who will pay for me to have a holiday in Mexico, fancy joining me?’ were found by police during their investigation.

Prosecution barrister Ms Neall said: “She claims to be a healer with mystical powers. The reality is this, she is a cynical charatan.

“She was prepared to swindle desperate people who each had a disease, which they feared conventional medicine could not cure.”

The second count of fraud was against Matthew Fallowes, a 23-year-old window cleaner who is married to Barlowe’s cousin.

The court heard Mr Fallowes, who suffers from skin condition, psoriasis, was sold the same bottles of ‘herbal medicine’ for £15 each, having been told by Barlowe that the ‘mixture of rare Spanish herbs’ could cure his ailment. In total he paid her £1,400 for the ‘worthless bottles’.

Prosecution barrister Ms Neall added: “Shona Barlowe is nothing but a liar and a fraud, and that she is guilty of both charges of fraud.”