Fraud faked cancer in bid to stop lover walking out

Council worker jailed over shocking deceit

A COUNCIL worker who pretended he had terminal cancer to try to stop his girlfriend leaving him has been jailed.

Scheming Kevin Bevis walked with a cane, swallowed 20 “tablets” a day and even went for bogus chemotherapy sessions to dupe Karen Gregory.

The 38-year-old even lied to his parents about the disease in front of her. Karen said: “I just took his word for it.

He was with me when I lost my auntie to cancer, how can anyone lie about such a thing? It’s hard because people on the outside think, ‘How can you be so stupid?’ But he went to such lengths.”

Bevis started walking with a cane to back up his sick claim the killer disease was making him weak, and he deliberately ate very little.

He also pretended to collapse in front of neighbours. Karen, 50, added: “He would have the medication, a box of pills, throughout the day. I found out they were just vitamins and supplements. I found a big bag of tablets hidden in the shed when I was clearing out his things. I was standing next to him as he broke the news to his mum and dad.

“If he can lie like that to his parents, you have got to believe it.”

Bevis, of Sittingbourne, Kent, was driven by Karen to St Thomas’ Hospital in South London for “chemotherapy” sessions but she was not allowed to be at his side. She said: “He would say he didn’t want me seeing him like that. I would pick him up and he would come out with bandages and tell me all about the nurses there.”

His deceit was finally exposed after Karen went to police when he became violent.

The couple met on Facebook in 2016. Mum-of-three Karen said: “He was really nice. He acted like a gentleman and was oldfashioned, it made a change really.” But she started going off him and by May 2018 was about to dump him when the dad-of-three told her he had stomach cancer.

Karen added: “I was speechless. He said, ‘Aren’t you going to give me a cuddle?’ Then the cancer got worse and worse.”

Karen, of West Malling, Kent, had just started spending a lot more time with her teenaged daughter and believes Bevis wanted more attention.

Last December, she asked police about his background under Clare’s Law, named after Clare Wood, 36, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend.

Karen told officers he was violent and he was arrested next day. Police checked his medical records and found no cancer.

Bevis, who worked for Gravesend borough council housing department, admitted controlling his girlfriend and assaulting her twice, when he appeared at Maidstone crown court. He was jailed for 18 months and given a five-year restraining order.

He had pills. They were just vitamins. How can anyone lie about this?

KAREN GREGORY FORMER GIRLFRIEND CONNED BY BEVIS