My Boyfriend the MI5 Hoaxer

My Boyfriend the MI5 Hoaxer

5th February 2010

First Cut

on Channel 4

The tale of a modern-day Svengali. Nineteen-year-old Oxford jewellery shop assistant Leanne McCarthy found herself trapped in a modern nightmare of kidnap, fear and mind control when she met 23-year-old Wayne Gouveia, a sophisticated conman with a track record of duping young women.

Wayne, who worked in a whisky shop in the same street, swept Leanne off her feet on several lavish dates and they started a relationship. He then set out to cleverly and meticulously convince Leanne he was an MI5 agent, assigned to protect her shop from a ruthless gang of jewel thieves.

The couple embarked on a year of madness involving late-night stake-outs, car chases, safe-houses, narrow escapes from the gang and, in between, going to flashy hotels and on glamorous trips abroad.

But Leanne's doubts about Wayne grew as their adventures got darker and his behaviour became increasingly controlling. As she was driven to the brink of madness, getting away from him became a matter of survival.

Wayne, it turned out, was one of Britain's most disturbing hoaxers. In March 2009, he was finally jailed after conning Leanne out of thousands of pounds.

In this moving and disturbing First Cut film, Leanne revisits the places and relives the memories where her bizarre adventures took place.

Producer/Director: Adrian Gatton
Associate Producer: Sasha Collington
Photography: Brendan Easton
Editor: Samuel Santana

“Here is a good movie plot: a pudgy-faced, innocent looking fantasist spins a web of deception. But My Boyfriend the MI5 Hoaxer is true…Wayne Gouveia emerges as a sinister manipulator who brainwashed his victim into paralysed, nightmarish compliance” - Financial Times

“Extraordinary, all of it, and fascinating” – Sam Wollaston, Guardian

“Adrian Gatton’s First Cut film offers a stark warning about the power of sophisticated conmen through the staggering story of Leanne McCarthy.” - Mail on Sunday

“absorbing” – Observer

“gripping” - Broadcast

In the meantime, if you know anything at all about Wayne Gouveia, please get in touch with me through my website contact form.

Cutting Edge : The Black Widow

The Black Widow
Cutting Edge
Channel 4 Television
29 June 2005














"This woman is every man's nightmare, the most dangerous woman I have ever met. For a decade she has targeted men sexually, financially and physically; they can sleep safe tonight knowing that she has been taken off the streets." - Sussex Police statement.

In December 2003, Dena Thompson was convicted of murdering her husband by poisoning. Sussex Police had uncovered a long career of deceit, fantasy, fraud, theft and bigamy. Through the harrowing accounts of those she deceived, this film tells the incredible story of how one woman wrecked the lives of so many men.

Producer: Adrian Gatton
Director: Martin Herring
Executive Producer: Nina Davies

"a riveting documentary" - The Sunday Times
"fascinating" - The Financial Times
"gripping" - The Times
"scary" - The Observer
"an extraordinary tale" - The Guardian