‘She was like Mary Poppins, almost unbelievable’ — how serial fraudster duped a Cork family, then vanished

● Father says Samantha Cookes talked down to him and his family while working as their childminder

Convicted fraudster Samantha Cookes was employed as a livein au pair for a Cork family with three children under the age of six, before she moved to work with a family in Celbridge last year.

The Sunday Independent has spoken to a family in Rochestown in Cork who only recently discovered that the English nanny they knew as Sadie Harris was in fact Samantha Cookes.

Cookes has convictions for fraud in Ireland and the UK. She has kept a low profile since late 2022 when she lived in Kerry under the alias Carrie Jade Williams, posing as a writer and disability activist who had received international recognition for talking about her alleged terminal illness.

Earlier this year the Sunday Independent revealed that Cookes had worked in Celbridge as a live-in au pair for a couple and their two children under the name ‘Sadie Harris’ until the school alerted the family to her real identity.

Cookes has not been seen since leaving the Celbridge family in a panic in February.

The family in Cork, who asked not to be identified, were shocked to learn that the Sadie Harris they employed between late May and June last year was really Samantha Cookes.

Like a number of families, the family in Cork said they found Cookes through her profile on the Mindme.ie website.

“She was like Mary Poppins, almost unbelievable,” said the father-of-three. “She was so into it — and we’ve had a load of au pairs. She told us a few porkies and we should have known better.”

The Cork family said they did not ask ‘Sadie’ for a reference after she claimed her previous employer was a family in LA who made her sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

The father said he had a teenage niece who met ‘Sadie’ and who questioned her closely about the NDA and she was the most sceptical about ‘Sadie’s’ story.

“She had this whole backstory and if you asked her any question she had the answer,” he said.

‘Sadie’ said she was an adoptee who wanted to be in Cork to visit her birth mother from Crosshaven. She lived with the family from late May until June 19 when she did not turn up for work.

The man said the most important thing was that no harm came to their children. He said ‘Sadie’ had promised to make dresses for his daughters and had taken material down to Kerry for the weekend but never came back.

“My two girls were devastated, as she had promised to make them the dresses,” he said.

“We just thought she was a liar, she’s not coming back. But she messed us up for the whole summer as it’s very hard to get childminders and she left us in the lurch with no notice.”

He said ‘Sadie’ came across as someone who was “awfully posh” and he felt she was “talking down to us”.

She claimed to come from a wealthy family and said she was waiting for an inheritance to clear probate.

Tusla has said that au pairs and childminders who look after children in a family’s home are not covered by childcare regulations — and so they are not required to register with it. It said anyone with information about a child at risk should contact the child and family agency.

Mindme.ie said that users who have been garda-vetted by its service have a special blue badge displayed on their profiles. It encourages all users to validate any claims, references or qualifications before hiring someone or taking up a position.

Cookes left Kenmare in late 2022 after she was exposed as having a UK criminal conviction. In 2011, she defrauded a couple of £1,200 (€1,395) by falsely acting as a surrogate when they were trying to conceive.

Cookes also has a 2019 Irish conviction for charging a Cork father €840 for a fake child psychologist’s report.

Four theft charges relating to a non-existent children’s Lapland trips were taken into consideration when she was given a suspended 14-week jail sentence.

Au pairs who look after children in a family home are not covered by childcare regulations