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.

The Fantasist of 9/11

The fantasist of 9/11

By Adrian Gatton

12 September 2008

Daily Mail

The story of Tania Head's escape from the Twin Towers captivated America and made her a heroine among survivors. Just one problem - she wasn't even there that day.

During the years following the 9/11 attacks, many stories emerged of triumph, tragedy and heroism. But one story stood out. Tania Head was one of only 19 people to survive above the point of impact in the South Tower at the World Trade Centre.

Her story was triumphant and tragic. She was a survivor who, despite horrific burns, had escaped the falling towers, but she was a victim, too, in that she lost her fiance, Dave, when the North Tower collapsed.

As Tania Head became president of the self-help group, the World Trade Centre Survivors' Network, her vivid account of miraculous escape and tragic loss convinced everyone - politicians, media, fellow survivors and the families of those who died in the attacks.

But Tania wasn't who she said she was. And on the day of the attacks she wasn't even in New York; she was thousands of miles away in Spain, sitting down to lectures at a business school in Barcelona, where she was completing a masters in business administration at one of Europe's most prestigious - and expensive - business schools.

Her fellow students went on to work in industry, but in 2003, Tania Head, a member of one of Barcelona's richest families, flew to New York to adopt her carefully studied persona as a victim of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But why did she do it? To get the answers I had to search across the U.S., Spain and even Switzerland for clues.

I quickly found that many doors in New York were shut, but I found copies of her copious emails and writings.

The answer to Tania's hoax appeared to lie in her own past, a mysterious arm injury and her almost professional pride in fulfilling her role successfully.

But, more disturbingly, she took advantage of the culture of 9/11, in a so-called 'hierarchy of suffering' that built up among the survivors ...

Read the full article in the Daily Mail here. A version of this article was also published in the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, see the piece here.

If you know anything about Tania Head - aka Alicia Esteve Head - please email me here in confidence: gatton (at) globalnet.co.uk

Cutting Edge: The 9/11 Faker

The 9/11 Faker

11 September 2008

Cutting Edge

on Channel 4

This programme tells the extraordinary story of Tania Head, one of the world's most audacious fakers.

In the years following the 9/11 attacks, many stories emerged of triumph, tragedy and heroism. But one story stood out. Tania Head, one of only 19 people at or above the point of impact to survive, who also lost her fiancé in the attacks.

As Tania Head became President of the World Trade Centre Survivors Network, Tania's vivid account of miraculous escape and tragic loss convinced everyone – politicians, press, fellow survivors and the families of those who died in the attacks. But Tania wasn't who she said she was. And on the day of the attacks she wasn't even in New York; she was thousands of miles away in Spain.

When she joined the 9/11 Survivors Network, Tania Head impressed her fellow survivors with how well she seemed to be coping. Within months of joining she had helped the network to get official status, secured state funding and asked a trauma expert to lead therapy sessions. She even supported the organisation with her own money and, in 2004, arranged the first survivors' visit to Ground Zero.

Barbara Conrad, a former member of the Survivors Network, recalls that, at meetings, "she would walk in and barely make it to her seat because she'd be surrounded, almost by fans".

No one questioned Tania, even when there seemed to be small inconsistencies in her version of events. Was the man she lost her fiancé or her husband? Why did a man in a red bandana – known to have saved the lives of many others that day – only appear in later versions of her story?

But, as her fame grew, so, finally, did the questions. In September 2007, the New York Times published a front page article questioning Tania's account. Shortly afterwards, she packed her bags and disappeared.

So who was Tania Head? And how did her deception affect the members of the 9/11 Survivors Network she left behind?

Speaking to traumatised survivors, the therapist who treated her and the family of the dead hero she claimed saved her life; The 9/11 Faker tells the intriguing story of how Tania Head became 9/11's most famous living face – and how she was exposed as one of the world's most notorious fakers.

The 9/11 Faker is an independent production for Channel 4 by Films of Record.

Director: James Bluemel

Producer: Adrian Gatton

Executive Producer: Helen Littleboy

"compelling and shocking ... this was a great documentary: gripping and mysterious" - The Times

"absorbing film … a staggering - and commendably unsensational - reflection on delusion, ambition and cynicism" - The Guardian (The Guide)

"[a] solemn, intelligent documentary ..." - The Guardian

"[a] sad, gripping documentary" - The Daily Mail

"a truly fascinating programme" - The Daily Star

"[a] fascinating story of deception and intrigue" - The Daily Record

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