Ex admitted he lied about cancer
Cancer conman David Rae’s exwife told how he got his hooks into her after finding out she was inheriting almost £30,000.
Sheila Rae, 55, says the gold digger turned on the charm when he discovered her sick mum was going into a home and giving her the cash.
She divorced the “control freak” over rows about money and suspicions he was cheating, then fled to a secret bolthole. A friend later said Rae was dying of cancer.
Sheila then rumbled his cancer scam after spotting him strolling down the street – despite hobbling about on crutches just days before.
Rae was unmasked by the Express as a cruel hoaxer feigning terminal illness to swindle £14,000 from another former partner.
Sheila explained: “I left David because he wanted to take over every aspect of my life. I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“After the marriage came to an end, a pal got in touch because David was saying he had just a year to live.
“I contacted him and he came to my flat on crutches, putting on a croaky voice. It took him 15 minutes to get up the stairs.
“A few days later, I was coming home on the bus and saw him walking handin-hand with a woman. “There was nothing wrong with him.” The pair met when the G4S security guard was transferred to the Glasgow tribunal service where Sheila worked.
They became friendly, but she says things changed after letting slip the windfall from her mum.
Sheila said: “We were pals, but no more than that, and we’d always stop for a gab.
“I told him about mum and how she was going into a home because she wasn’t keeping very well.
“I told him she’d left me quite a lot of money and everything was different overnight.
“All of a sudden, he came on all loveydovey.”
The pair were married in front of friends and family at Paisley Registry Office in 2012 after a two- year relationship.
Rae’s smooth-talking dried up soon after.
Sheila says cash would go missing and he would disappear for hours with no explanation and then return without his wedding band on.
She added: “We’d argue a lot about money and whenever we went out, he’d say he had left his wallet or his bank card wasn’t working.
“I was responsible for drawing mum’s pension and would often leave it lying downstairs on a sideboard – but I’d notice some of it gone without any explanation.
“David would ask if he could borrow money to get his car fixed, so I gave him £300 on more than one occasion, never to see it again.
“He’d go out in the morning at weekends and would take hours to come back. He would always tell me he had been to buy rolls, even if there was bread there.”
Sheila says Rae began cutting her off from friends and family after they mo moved in together in Paisley’s Ellon Wa Way in 2010.
S She told how he would insist on dro dropping her off and picking her up wh wherever she went and would erupt if shes got the bus or train.
S Sheila said: “When he was moved to an another office, I took the train through on a day off to surprise him and he loo looked horrified.
““He wasn’t wearing his wedding ring an and he was trying to usher me outside aw away from his colleagues.
““They were looking at me like I had tw two heads.”
Sheila walked out on him after ar arranging a secret bolt-hole just over aya year after they were married.
She divorced him 12 months later, b but a pal made contact soon after when the G4S crook claimed he was dying of cancer.
Sheila continued: “I texted him s saying I heard he was ill. “We met up and he was using crutches and was speaking in a really gruff voice. He told me he had oesophageal cancer.
“When I saw him walking down the road, I just couldn’t believe it. I was furious. “He lied to his family and friends. “I tried to confront him about it, but he never replied.”
Rae admitted he had never been ill or suffered from cancer and claimed the con was “out of character” for him – despite lying to a string of women.
He said: “I’ve ruined my life and everyone else’s.”
He was hauled into Hamilton Sheriff Court last week after he cheated a gran he met online out of £14,000.
The Match. com rat admitted defrauding the mum-of-three after pretending he was raising funds to fly to America for a life-saving cancer operation.
The liar was caught out after the woman’s daughter, who is a nurse, had a chance meeting with a colleague whose sister had also been scammed by him.
The victim, 56, of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, told how Rae claimed he was visiting the Beatson Cancer Centre, in Glasgow, but needed to travel to California for surgery.
Rae has been ordered to return to court on May 8 for sentencing.
● If you have been conned by David Rae, get in touch with Express reporter Chris Taylor by calling 0141 309 3342, or emailing chris.taylor@trinitymirror. com
I told him mum had left me a lot of money and everything changed overnight. Suddenly, he came on all lovey-dovey Sheila Rae