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Angela MacVicar
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Angela MacVicar
She's ruined so many lives. She's just broken so many Hearts. It's just left me wondering, did she ever have any love for any of us? And that hurts like hell.
Andrea Gunning
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, A show about the people we trust the most and the deceptions that change everything.
Angela MacVicar
Tale of Peter Rabbit. Oh, it's a tale of Peter Rabbit, that is. And I can see you've drawn a picture of me. Peter Rabbit, that is Adeline, that is right.
Andrea Gunning
That's Angela MacVicar. She's a grandmother in small town Scotland. The day we interviewed her, Angela was babysitting her four year old granddaughter.
Angela MacVicar
Listen, Nana's going to ask if you will be quiet for a little while longer, okay? Okay. Be very, very good and you'll make me very, very happy. Okay? All right, on you go.
Andrea Gunning
Angela has lived her whole life in the Scottish countryside.
Angela MacVicar
What makes Scotland? I think other people. If a stranger walks into a bar, they don't leave that bar until everybody knows who they are and why they're there.
Andrea Gunning
She came from a close knit family of all girls. When she was growing up in the 70s, I did actually want to be.
Angela MacVicar
A midwife, but then I fell pregnant and had my first daughter, Joanna when I was 17, so that kind of put a hold on anything. And at that point I was thrown into growing up very quickly.
Andrea Gunning
Joanna was named for Angela's father, John. And just like her mom, she would be one of four girls, which was hard going.
Angela MacVicar
Being a young mum and having four.
Andrea Gunning
Children, there was rarely a quiet moment.
Angela MacVicar
We always had a busy house with four girls. They were always bringing friends home.
Andrea Gunning
Out of all of her girls, Joanna was the most driven.
Angela MacVicar
You never had to tell her to study. She would come home and go straight to her room, do her homework.
Andrea Gunning
And she was a talented Highland dancer, which is a traditional Gaelic folk dance. On weekends, Joanna competed in dance contests across the country. But something changed when Joanna was 16.
Angela MacVicar
Joanna started to get really tired and I put it down to her studying so hard for her exams. And then she started getting little lumps and bruises. She would come and say, mum, look at this. And then one time in particular, she couldn't get her shoe on and she said, look at my foot. And on the bridge of her foot there was a lump and it looked like an egg. It was really quite a significant lump.
Andrea Gunning
Angela wasn't the type to call the doctor over every scrape or sniffle, but this time she was genuinely alarmed when the first doctor dismissed it as a bug bite. She found another doctor and then another.
Angela MacVicar
I knew in the back of my mind it Wasn't right. There was something going on.
Andrea Gunning
One day, Joanna came home from school with a large, dark purple bruise. It covered her whole lower leg, and.
Angela MacVicar
It hadn't been there in the morning when she left. And at that point, leukemia hit me between the eyes. I knew that bruising was a symptom. So we went to the hospital the following day, and they said, well, we need to do a bone marrow aspirate. But they told me that it was just to confirm what they already knew. And I just. I kept having to leave her room. I kept having to make up excuses because I could feel myself getting panicked and upset, and I didn't want her to. To feel that or see was a.
Andrea Gunning
Day that changed their lives forever. At 16, Joanna was diagnosed with cancer.
Angela MacVicar
Just by looking through a microscope, you could tell that she had chronic myeloid leukemia.
Andrea Gunning
Today, there are a variety of treatments for chronic myeloid leukemia. But 30 years ago, there were very limited options. Joanna's doctors were scrambling to find answers.
Angela MacVicar
The doctors would say, I don't know how she's functioning. I don't know how she can walk.
Andrea Gunning
A nurse had seen Angela pacing the hallways all day. She pulled her aside and gave her some stern advice. Angela was going to have to be her daughter's advocate.
Angela MacVicar
She wasn't giving me tea and sympathy. She was giving me sound advice. And she was being a bit of a badass with me and just telling me without saying the words, pull yourself together. You're gonna have to do this.
Andrea Gunning
So Angela tried to channel her fear into action. She was willing to go anywhere in the world, do anything necessary to get Joanna treatment. Next, she found a specialist.
Angela MacVicar
He then told us that she had to have a bone marrow transplant to survive.
Andrea Gunning
In order to have a successful bone marrow transplant, Joanna would need a perfect match. It's rare, but they found a possible match on the national registry. It wasn't perfect, but it was close, and it was their only shot. But the procedure is dangerous.
Angela MacVicar
So what they do is they kill off all your bone marrow. So you had to go into isolation. You're in a room where everybody has to be scrubbed up, and it's very limited to how many people are in the room, because an infection could kill you, because you don't have any white cells to fight infection. And then the cells from a donor just looks like a bag of blood, and it's hung up on a stand, and you receive it through intravenous. And the stem cells that go through your veins find their way to your bone marrow, and they nest in your bone marrow and start to multiply and give you a new immune system, should your body accept it. But Joanna's didn't. It wasn't a close enough match and her body attacked the new cells. When that happened, she was left with no immune system and no donor.
Andrea Gunning
Before the transplant, Joanna didn't fully grasp how serious her diagnosis was.
Angela MacVicar
There was a few times we thought we were going to lose her during the transplant, she was just so ill.
Andrea Gunning
After the transplant failed, Joanna's doctors were blunt.
Angela MacVicar
So at that point, they said, if she's going to survive beyond five years, we need to find a perfect match.
Andrea Gunning
That's when Angela turned to the Anthony Nolan Register, one of the first bone marrow registries in the world. It had been founded by another mother, also desperate to save her child. And the charity happened to be based in the uk. So Angela scheduled a meeting with a woman there and she said, well, this.
Angela MacVicar
Weekend we have got a fundraising event going on in Glasgow. Would you and Joanna like to go along? And I said, yes, because we have to do something. We can't sit back and just expect everybody else to build this register for us.
Andrea Gunning
So they packed their bags for Glasgow.
Angela MacVicar
Of course, Joanna said she had nothing to wear, which was a lot of baloney.
Andrea Gunning
That weekend, they hoped to meet people who could help Joanna.
Angela MacVicar
And that's where I met Lindsay McCallum.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay worked for the Anthony Nolan Trust and she would be Angela and Joanna's ambassador, guiding them through the process of growing the registry and trying to find Joanna's match.
Angela MacVicar
When we arrived at the hotel, she greeted us so warmly and kindly and she was very caring and inviting.
Andrea Gunning
That night at the fundraiser, there was.
Angela MacVicar
An auction and there was people up speaking, and while Lindsay was speaking on the stage, Joanna actually got up off her chair and walked up onto the stage and took the mic and told people that she needed to find a bone marrow match or she was going to die. I saw her blossom on that stage. She didn't cry, she just told people that she wanted to live and thanked them for being there and for helping her.
Andrea Gunning
In that moment, something shifted. Joanna was no longer just a patient. She wanted to be an advocate. And an idea was born. The Anthony Nolan Trust would partner with Joanna to launch a media campaign. They would use her story to raise awareness and get new people to donate bone marrow. Every new donor could potentially be Joanna's match. They got the campaign off the ground with Lindsay's help and the public immediately took notice.
Angela MacVicar
When we started Joanna's campaign, the media just ate it up. They just Loved her. She loved the camera. The camera loved her. Yeah. She made friends with lots of different Scottish celebrities and they just loved her zest for life.
Andrea Gunning
Joanna's story struck a chord. Her personality, her humor, her sheer will to live. It was irresistible. Plus, the campaign gave Joanna a larger purpose.
Angela MacVicar
It sounds ridiculous, but she had a blast. She just wanted to live. That was her message. I just want to live.
Andrea Gunning
Even though the transplant hadn't been successful, Joanna was well enough to take her exams and get into college. There she discovered her love of journalism.
Angela MacVicar
She used to say, when I'm better, I'm going to start a newspaper and it's going to be called Good News Only. It's going to just be a newspaper full of good news that people will want to read and not be drawn into doom and gloom. Wouldn't that be a wonderful world?
Andrea Gunning
As the campaign continued to grow, so did Angela's involvement.
Angela MacVicar
I started to work for the Anthony Nolan Trust. I was a donor recruitment manager. I then started running clinics where people could come along and put their name down to be on the register. And everybody was coming to join the register, coming in their thousands.
Andrea Gunning
It was intense work, and Angela says it couldn't have been accomplished without Lindsay's help. The woman they'd met at the fundraiser was becoming an integral part of their lives. Lindsay went above and beyond on Joanna's campaign, and she meant business.
Angela MacVicar
She was ex military, had been in the Navy, and so she had that kind of great organizational skills and she was charming, she attracted people. She was a good fundraiser. Because we were running a campaign together, the relationship became pretty intense.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay and Angela became fast friends.
Angela MacVicar
You know, the relationship grew organically. She would phone me during our work hours and then that would expand. And we wouldn't just talk work, we just kicked off. We just kicked off really well. And we laughed at the same things. We talked about the same things. We both had families that were very similar, very close, loving families.
Andrea Gunning
They had a lot in common. And Lindsay made her feel less alone. Lindsay didn't have a child with cancer or a personal stake in growing the donor registry. But she was passionate about the work and the people she was helping.
Angela MacVicar
She just had an aura. And we both had a common goal in increasing the Register and helping people. And she cared about Joanna.
Andrea Gunning
As the year went on, Lindsay became a part of their family.
Angela MacVicar
Our families quickly became intertwined. I absolutely adored her mother and her sisters.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay and Angela started calling each other first thing in the morning, every morning.
Angela MacVicar
We were both early birds. Either she would text me or I Would text her saying, are you awake yet? And I don't know what we even spoke about. You know when you have a relationship and you can be on the phone for an hour, and then you have to phone back in an hour's time? Oh, I forgot to tell you. I could speak to her five times a day. That was the kind of relationship we had. You didn't get one without the other. It was like cheese and pickle.
Andrea Gunning
The two women founded an annual ball together as a fundraiser for the registry. By that point, Lindsay felt like a sister.
Angela MacVicar
It's hard to describe just how intense a friendship it was. I feel it was always because we had that goal to save Joanna's life.
Andrea Gunning
Joanna herself was determined to live, and she was open to trying anything.
Angela MacVicar
She spoke to doctors about complementary therapies. Should she have reflexology? Should she have massage? And 30 years ago, doctors scoffed and rolled their eyes and said, yeah, you could try that if you like.
Andrea Gunning
But Joanna was ahead of her time. She believed in western medicine, and she also believed in the power of rest, food, and joy. While they kept waiting for the perfect match, Joanna decided the best treatment would be living her life to the fullest.
Angela MacVicar
She was gutsy. She would do things like skydive. She went scuba diving.
Andrea Gunning
She'd been living with cancer for almost 10 years. When she was 24, she planned to backpack around the world. Her doctors cleared her to go, so long as she had blood work done every few weeks. And Joanna took the chance.
Angela MacVicar
She went all over. She was in Thailand, all these kind of places. Fiji. I mean, bear in mind, Joanna was tiny, tiny, little thin thing. Her backpack was almost as big as her. It was huge. And while she was in Australia, I got a phone call to say she had been admitted.
Andrea Gunning
She started feeling short of breath, and it turned out she had a collapsed lung.
Angela MacVicar
Her lungs are deteriorating. Eventually, they managed to get her on a flight and get her back to Scotland. And then we discovered that she actually needed a heart and lung transplant.
Andrea Gunning
Everyone knew what it meant. This was the beginning of the end.
Angela MacVicar
And she never, ever got that heart lung transplant.
Andrea Gunning
Joanna died at home with her mom and sisters by her side. She was 27.
Angela MacVicar
It was just all so unfair. Everything's unfair, though, isn't it? You know, with disease, it's never fair. But she just so desperately wanted to live.
Andrea Gunning
Angela immediately threw herself into planning a celebration of life for Joanna.
Angela MacVicar
I remember saying to somebody, this is the last thing I get to do for my child.
Andrea Gunning
The service would be joyful and vibrant, just like Joanna.
Angela MacVicar
We asked everybody not to wear black, to wear very colorful clothing from a tiny little girl. Joanna loved rainbows. As a toddler, she would scream when she saw a rainbow. She was fascinated. And when she was very ill and she knew she was dying, she said to me, when we can no longer be together, I will send you a sign and we can meet in the middle of Rainbow.
Andrea Gunning
As they planned the service, Lindsay was there to help, just like always.
Angela MacVicar
Lindsay actually asked if she could read her eulogy. I was like, oh my goodness, could you do that? And she was like, I really. Yeah, I could. I want to. And I was like, oh, that's beautiful.
Andrea Gunning
Even in this dark time, Angela felt like she was surrounded by love, that she was supported by good and caring people.
Angela MacVicar
I thought Lindsay McCallum was one of these people, and she wasn't.
Andrea Gunning
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Andrea Gunning
After Joanna passed away, Angela leaned on her family and friends, especially her best friend, Lindsay. At this point, they'd been best friends for nearly a decade. Their daily morning calls became a lifeline for Angela.
Angela MacVicar
After Joanna passed. You know, Lindsay would be the first person I would speak to in the morning and she would message me and say, are you up? Or I would, if I was a week, I would meet a yop and we would chat and she would just laugh with me about the funny things Joanna would get up to and the funny things that she would say. And it lifted my spirit and it was just, she was always there, she was so supportive. Never heard her cry right enough, never cried, but I just thought that she was just composed.
Andrea Gunning
Their friendship went on like this for another seven years. During this time, Angela was reflecting a lot on Joanna and how she was always looking for holistic treatments, ways to make herself feel better and find joy. She thought about how Joanna used to.
Angela MacVicar
Say there should be a place that people go and they can just sample all these things and find out what you can do to bring more joy, more peace, more relaxation, less stress.
Andrea Gunning
One day when Lindsay and Angela were on the phone, they came up with an idea together. A charity that would provide exactly that.
Angela MacVicar
Seven years after Joanna passed away, Lindsay and I decided in her memory to launch Rainbow Valley to help other people.
Andrea Gunning
Rainbow Valley, a nod to Joanna's vibrancy and her love of rainbows. They would offer a two day residential program for people with cancer. The course would include coaching on mindfulness diet and emotional well being.
Angela MacVicar
Remove Ali is not a life saving charity. Remove Valley is a life changing charity and it doesn't matter how long you have to live, it's what can you do to take back control of a diagnosis of cancer and live a more joyous life.
Andrea Gunning
Luckily, Lindsay knew how to start a charity and she was eager to help.
Angela MacVicar
She had 17, 18 years experience as a fundraiser for a big organization. So she, she was obviously well respected within the sector and I felt she had the expertise. Joanna gave us the vision. Joanna gave us our mission. I was a storyteller and Lindsay was the expertise behind pulling it together.
Andrea Gunning
They applied for charitable status and found experts to lead their courses. And then in a twist of fate, Lindsay was laid off from her job at the Anthony Nolan Trust. So she became Rainbow Valley's first official employee.
Angela MacVicar
It made sense that Lindsay, you know, after being made redundant, worked for Rainbow Valley. And we pulled a board together, a board of trustees, and we took advice from Lindsay, we took her lead because she was the one with 20 years experience. I was so grateful that we were able to do something like this together in Joanna's memory. I thought it was all meant to be.
Andrea Gunning
Under Lindsay's leadership, the charity really came together. In 2012, Rainbow Valley officially began running Courses.
Angela MacVicar
She was the head of the charity. She was involved in the day to day running of everything. I trusted her implicitly. Implicitly.
Andrea Gunning
A few years into managing the charity together, the friends faced their first real conflict. Angela had started to question some of Lindsay's choices.
Angela MacVicar
I felt she was spending money on something that wasn't necessary and it was a bit of a waste of resources. And I spoke to Lindsay about this and I remember saying to her, this is extremely difficult for me because you're my best friend and I adore you, but this is a business conversation and I don't feel this is the way we should be running.
Andrea Gunning
And Lindsay didn't take it well.
Angela MacVicar
It was the first time I had ever seen. I don't want to over exaggerate and say aggression, but it was like she was angry. I saw it as not a fallout, but we disagreed on something which we hadn't done before.
Andrea Gunning
But it was more than a disagreement. It was a turning point. After that conversation, Lindsay became cold and she came to Angela with some feedback of her own.
Angela MacVicar
She started telling me that people didn't like me and that I was causing upset on the course. I was upsetting the staff and I was upsetting the attendees and I was creating a negative atmosphere. And of course I loved her and I didn't want to upset her. I didn't want to upset anybody on the course. But she had me convinced that I was creating this negative atmosphere.
Andrea Gunning
Angela was taken aback, but she trusted Lindsay's judgment. She didn't want to be a problem or get in the way of their mission.
Angela MacVicar
And she told me that I shouldn't come to the courses anymore, that I wasn't being useful. So I kind of stepped back from that.
Andrea Gunning
She wanted to do what was best for the charity. But Angela was hurt. And to make matters worse, their friendship was changing.
Angela MacVicar
During that time, our relationship really deteriorated. And I was very confused, you know, because Lindsay would turn quite nasty at times and it just wasn't like her, you know, I would try to speak to her and say, what's wrong? And she'd say, nothing, nothing. So she had me feeling I was imagining it.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay stopped calling in the mornings.
Angela MacVicar
I would then be phoning and she would ignore my calls. And then when I would say to her, I phoned you, she would say, well, I never got a missed call from you.
Andrea Gunning
Then one night, Angela opened her door to find all three of her daughters standing in front of her.
Angela MacVicar
The girls all came to my house one evening and said, you really need to get help. You're not happy.
Andrea Gunning
Angela knew Lindsay had something to do with this, and her daughters confirmed it. Lindsay had approached them and raised her concerns.
Angela MacVicar
She was saying to them things like, your mum really needs help. I know she's had a lot of trauma in her life, but she really needs help. And that I was going off my nut. And I was like, absolutely not.
Andrea Gunning
Now Lindsay was interfering in her relationship with her daughters. It started to feel like it was orchestrated. But to what end? Angela couldn't figure it out. And on top of that, I felt.
Angela MacVicar
She was pushing me out, telling me that I was interfering in the day to day running of the charity and that she ran the charity.
Andrea Gunning
But one day Angela stopped by a Rainbow Valley course that Lindsay was running. She stood in the back and kept to herself. Lindsay was giving the introduction to the group. Typically, they shared Joanna's story at the start of every course, but this time Lindsay skipped over it.
Angela MacVicar
Remember going to a day course and normally when we have our intro slides, we talk about what Rainbow Valley is, the inspiration. And we have a picture of Joanna up and we talk about, this is where it started. This was a dream of Joanna's. But this time she didn't mention Joanna in the course. I said to her after it, was there a reason why they stopped talking about Joanna? And she said, because I don't really think it's relevant.
Andrea Gunning
Angela was at a loss for words. She didn't recognize Lindsay or where she was taking Rainbow Valley.
Angela MacVicar
And then in 2022, in January, she said to me, there's a problem.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay said Covid had taken a toll on the charity's bottom line.
Angela MacVicar
She said, we've managed to bob along because we got some grants to run the online courses, but now we're through all that. It's not viable. We don't have enough money. The charity's going to close. She announced this at a board meeting. And they all kind of looked at the figures and were like, we're in trouble here.
Andrea Gunning
It was bleak. Lindsay explained that the best option was to wind down the charity at the end of the year.
Angela MacVicar
I said, wait a wee moment. We cannot make this decision and walk out of the room saying, that's it, we're folding. Give us three weeks. Let's reconvene in three weeks. And if we all go away and speak to everybody and anybody and see if we can find a company, a trust fund, somebody that will save us, somebody that will give us a big donation.
Andrea Gunning
Angela started working the phones. Within a week, someone found a donor willing to help get Rainbow Valley Back on track.
Angela MacVicar
I was so relieved and so excited. I met Lindsay before the board meeting and I thought she would have been elated, but she was like, oh, that's great.
Andrea Gunning
Instead of celebrating, Lindsay announced that she would be stepping down from the charity for good.
Angela MacVicar
She said, I'm leaving Rainbow Valley. I don't want to do fundraising anymore. I'm good to resign.
Andrea Gunning
On her last day, the staff took her out to lunch and bought her flowers. She and Angela said a cordial goodbye. Angela felt like it was a new chapter for the charity. The only thing left to do was close the accounts Lindsay used. Years ago. She set up a separate bank account for their annual gala. Angela knew about the account, but she wasn't involved in managing it.
Angela MacVicar
I had mentioned this other account that was for the ball, which Lindsay had advised that we set up as a friend's account. I knew that she had done this when she was with the Anthony Nolan Trust previously. So I just thought, well, that's how it's done.
Andrea Gunning
The bank account Lindsay set up was called the Friends of Rainbow Valley.
Angela MacVicar
And the treasurer said, oh, that account, is it closed? And I was like, well, I don't know. And she said, well, it needs closed or the name changed.
Andrea Gunning
So Angela went to the bank and got hard copies of the account statements to take back to the office and reconcile. Angela's adult daughter Kendall was working for Rainbow Valley at the time, helping close out the books for the end of the year.
Angela MacVicar
I took it back to the office, put it down on the table, and I said to Kendall, let's go through this. And Kendall continued looking through it and she said, mum, come back and look at this. Why is all this getting paid out to Lindsay? Why? Why is all these payments going out to Lindsay?
Andrea Gunning
Angela went to look and she saw dozens of transfers, small transfers, a few hundred dollars each. But the closer they looked, they realized it quickly totaled a huge sum of money. And it was all made out to one person. Lindsay McCallum.
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Lindsay McCallum
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Andrea Gunning
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Angela MacVicar
And she said why's all this getting paid out to Lindsay? And I said it'll be expenses and she said no, look at the dates. Why would she have expenses? March, April, May, June, July. It's every month and sometimes it's twice a day. I was really confused. And Kendall just looked at me and I was like, no, she's been horrible to me, but she's not a thief. I know that our family are very wealthy. She's very comfortable, and she's not a thief. No, not a chance.
Andrea Gunning
It's true that Lindsay's husband came from a wealthy family, and she'd been collecting a salary from Rainbow Valley. She didn't need money. Angela felt like there had to be another explanation, so she reached out to Lindsay to clear it up.
Angela MacVicar
I had sent her a message saying, I'm confused why all these payments are going out to you and are the expenses and the amounts don't add up. She says it was expenses. I was just paying things in drips and drabs. And I wanted to believe that. And I came back into the office and I said to Kendall, it's fine. It's just expenses. And Kendall said, bullshit. Bullshit. She says, open your eyes and look at it properly.
Andrea Gunning
She needed answers. So she called Lindsay back.
Angela MacVicar
And she was just coming up with, you know, lots of different excuses. And then she said, well, I should have told you this, but a good few years ago, Rainbow Valley was in financial trouble. And I put a lump sum in to dig us out a hole, and I should have told you about it. And I said, how much? How much did you put in? And she said, oh, I can't remember, but that was me trying to claw the money back. And I said, no. I says, that's not transparent. You cannot do that. Bring in all your statements, bring in all your bank accounts, and you and I will sit at this table and we will go through everything and we'll make everything transparent so that every penny's accounted for. And she said, I can't.
Andrea Gunning
So Angela ended the call. She needed time to think.
Angela MacVicar
And at that point, you know, I'm disgusted. We packed up and drove home. And the whole way home, my head was just spinning. And I said to my daughter, just let's keep this low key just now, because I need to work out what my next steps are.
Andrea Gunning
Before she could wrap her head around this, Lindsay called again, this time with a new tactic.
Angela MacVicar
She phoned and she said, please, Angela, don't take this any further. And she said, look, I'll give you £20,000. Just go to the bank and close it. And I said, how long has this been going on? And she said, oh, no, no, no. It was just that year. It was just that one year. That was it. That was it, you know, it was okay. It's okay. There's nothing else.
Andrea Gunning
Angela didn't believe her.
Angela MacVicar
As far as I was concerned, she was trying to bribe me.
Andrea Gunning
This wasn't sloppy bookkeeping. It was theft.
Angela MacVicar
So then I phoned my daughter and I said, we're going to the police. I had to go to the police.
Andrea Gunning
They wanted to gather all the evidence they could. So they searched every page of their financial records, starting with the year the charity was founded.
Angela MacVicar
And my two daughters went through it, highlighting everything and kind of trying to get a tally. I could hardly chew my own fingernails, I was in such a state.
Andrea Gunning
The bank statements revealed Lindsay had been stealing money from Rainbow Valley for years. She'd taken it bit by bit. 300 here, 200 there. And slowly those little numbers started adding up. In the end, they discovered Lindsay stole £86,000. That's US$116,000. The reason nobody had noticed was because Lindsay was soliciting donations straight to the Friends of Rainbow Valley account. And she never reported those donations to the organization. So of course the donors thought their money was going to the charity. In reality, it was going to Lindsay's slush fund.
Angela MacVicar
Nobody else would know that thousand pounds ever existed because she would be the one that would be writing a letter of thanks. So she was so deceitful. And these are people. This is money from people that she would know.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay had robbed their donors. She'd robbed cancer patients and their families. She'd even tried to close Rainbow Valley forever.
Angela MacVicar
It was like a jigsaw all coming together. It was making sense why she was treating me the way she was, why she had to get rid of me, why she wanted to leave Rainbow Valley, why she was gaslighting me. She had hoped that the charity would fold and all the bank accounts would be closed and it would be all gone, and she would have got away with it.
Andrea Gunning
Angela realized her best friend of 20 years wasn't the person she thought she was.
Angela MacVicar
When it all came to light, I was breathed. The person I thought she was for me had died. She no longer existed. And that was extremely difficult, intense.
Andrea Gunning
Angela walked into the PlayStation with hundreds of papers in hand.
Angela MacVicar
And I have to say, the detective was so good, because I was in there. I was just a wreck when he would come in. You know, I was just a blubbering wreck. And he was just very calm and kind and explained everything as he was going along. And he warned me, he said, this will take about Two years to get to court. And I was like, no way. How. How can that be?
Andrea Gunning
He was right. It took the police a year to investigate the case. A week after Angela confronted her, Lindsay paid £25,000 into the rainbow Valley account in an attempt to cover up what she'd done. She didn't know that Angela had already gone to the police, so she thought.
Angela MacVicar
She had got away with it. You know, time was passing and she was living her best life. Their son was getting married. They went away to Cyprus for this big, laughish wedding, as if there was nothing wrong.
Andrea Gunning
For Angela, the year of the investigation was an emotional and unsettling time. Sometimes she had to remind herself that this was really happening.
Angela MacVicar
I would get into a panic sometimes and think, oh, my God, have we got this wrong? And I would have to go back into the office and take out all the evidence and look at it to remind me and say, no, it really happened. It really has happened.
Andrea Gunning
On October 30, 2023, it got very real for Angela and for Lindsay.
Angela MacVicar
I remember the day she was arrested. I'll never forget it as long as I'll live. I remember it because I was driving home from my mother's and the detective phoned me and asked me to pull in. And he said, I brought her in for questioning and I've charged her. And he said, are you okay? And I said, yeah, but I was shaking.
Andrea Gunning
She thought she'd feel a sense of justice, but really she just felt heartbreak.
Angela MacVicar
Bear in mind, I still loved her. Love is not like a light switch. You don't ever switch it off. I loved the bones of her. She was a fabulous friend. She was there for me in some of my darkest, darkest hours. And then I was confused. She stood and read a eulogy at Joanna's funeral. How could you do that? How could you do that?
Andrea Gunning
But Angela's heartbreak turned to rage when the police uncovered new information. It turned out Lindsay's fraud didn't start with Rainbow Valley. She had also stolen from the Anthony Nolan Trust, the place where Angela and Lindsay first met. And the police charged her with that fraud, too.
Angela MacVicar
I think that was the point where I felt angry then, because I thought, you're a serial thief. And it's just left me wondering, did she ever have any love for. For any of us? She worked for the Anthony Nolan Trust when I met her. And Joanna needed a bone marrow transplant. And I questioned, did she see Joanna could raise a lot of money. Were we just a meal ticket for her? And that hurts like hell. Not because she did that to me, but because she maybe did that with Joanna.
Andrea Gunning
It's an unanswerable question, but they'd been friends for decades. Angela knew Lindsay and what really motivated her.
Angela MacVicar
Her husband's family are extremely wealthy and elderly, so he is in for a big, big, big inheritance. Personally, I just don't think it was coming quick enough to her. And her vanity and greed took over.
Andrea Gunning
On the day of Lindsay's sentencing hearing.
Angela MacVicar
The court opened, and she had to walk past us, and she stuck her head in the air, stuck her nose in the air and looked in the opposite direction. You know, she was very close, had to walk right past me. And I recognized her fully, but felt I didn't know her.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay ended up pleading guilty to two fraud charges.
Angela MacVicar
She knew that you get a third off your sentence, so she got four years, reduced to three years for pleading guilty.
Andrea Gunning
Lindsay was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to repay both charities. She did make that repayment, but she only served a quarter of her sentence. But justice looks different for Angela. She wanted honesty and remorse, but that never came.
Angela MacVicar
I'll never, ever, ever get over it. I'll never understand it. I would love to sit in a room with her and just say, please be honest. Tell me why, and tell me what was going through your head. I would love to have a conversation with her. Not for me to call her names or to call her out on anything, but just to try and unjumble my brain. I miss the person I thought she was. I really do.
Andrea Gunning
Even though Lindsay's deception devastated Angela, she isn't willing to let it change her values.
Angela MacVicar
I refuse to live my life not trusting people with what I've been through with Joanna. I know there are more good people in the world than there are bad, and that's what I hang on to. I've got seven beautiful grandchildren. None of them met Joanna, but they all know her, and they talk about her when they see rainbows. If there's a reflection comes into the house and it's bouncing off, they'll say, oh, Auntie Jo's here.
Andrea Gunning
Angela lost her best friend, but she didn't lose Rainbow Valley. And her decision to bring Lindsay's crime to light in some ways has been a positive. Today, Rainbow Valley has more interest and support than ever, and Angela dreams of building a permanent center for the charity. Joanna's legacy has become part of Angela's legacy, too.
Angela MacVicar
I want this to have longevity and be meaningful for people. Way after I've gone. I want it to keep growing and flourishing and being there to help people through, you know, a very difficult period of their life.
Andrea Gunning
And all of our weekly episodes with the same question. Why do you want to share your story?
Angela MacVicar
I'm telling this story mainly because you asked, but Rainbow Valley was Joanna's dream. Lindsay tried to turn it into a nightmare, and I wanted the world to know what she had done and who she really was. But I also want people to realize that they can survive the worst times of their life. And Joanna taught me to stand tall because that's what she did. If she could do it, I've got to. You know, when you have a rainbow, it's guaranteed the sun will come out eventually.
Andrea Gunning
On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly.
Angela MacVicar
Never ever did I see that coming. Ever. I truly thought I was going in to help someone else. And then I'm being questioned.
Andrea Gunning
What do you mean?
Angela MacVicar
I'm his wife. This isn't a crime. We weren't a crime.
Andrea Gunning
If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email us@betrayalpodmail.com that's betrayalpodmail.com we're grateful for your support. One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts. And don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive producer, produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Faison, hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Monique Laborde. Also produced by Ben Federman. Associate producers are Kristin Melchiori and Caitlin Golden. Our iHeart team is ally Perry and Jessica Krynczyk. Audio editing and mixing by Matt d'. Alvecchio Additional editing support from Tanner Robbins. Betrayal's theme composed by Alex Oliver Baines Music library provided by My Music and for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Lindsay McCallum
For the first time ever, a truly beautiful medical breakthrough promises physical perfection. One shot makes you hot, but with terrifying consequences. In the new original series, FX is the Beauty. The glamorous world of supermodels turns deadly and as mysterious deaths draw in FBI agents and a shadowy billionaire who will stop at nothing to protect his empire. From executive producer Ryan Murphy, FX is the Beauty. Premieres January 21st on FX, Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers. This is Julian Edelman from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. Sunday mornings I've got my game day ritual, coffee, lucky socks and now new Morning Uncrustable sandwiches. It's all about that 12 gram protein boost with the new uncrustables, Bright Eyed berry or up and apple flavors. Bright Eye Berries got a feisty receiver energy up an apple. Your classic do it all tight end, soft, pillowy, packed with protein and easy enough for Gronk to grab from the freezer. Whether you're on the couch, driving to the tailgate or heading to the locker room, new morning Uncrustable sandwiches are the MVP of snacks. Your new Sunday kickoff ritual starts here with new morning Uncrustable sandwiches packed with 12 grams of protein. Janice Torres here and I'm Austin Hankwitz. We host the podcast Mind the Business, Small Business Business Success Stories produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.
Andrea Gunning
We're back for season four to talk to some incredible small business owners.
Lindsay McCallum
The big thing about working at tech is that it's ever evolving, ever changing. Everyone's a rookie, that's how fast the industry is changing. So what I'm really excited about is to be part of that change. So listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you heard of this new Netflix series, His and Hers? This new mystery series stars Tessa Thompson as Anna, a journalist in Atlanta, and John Bernthal as Detective Jack Harper. When Anna catches wind of a murder in Dahlonica, the sleepy town where she grew up, she pounces on the case and searches for answers. Detective Jack Harper is strangely suspicious of her involvement, chasing her into the crosshairs of his own investigation. The closer they get to each other, the closer they get to the truth. And we cannot wait to see how it unfolds. Don't miss the suspense and the drama. Watch his and hers now only on Netflix.
Angela MacVicar
This is an iHeart podcast.
Podcast Advertiser/Host
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Betrayal: Weekly | Angela – Betrayal Weekly
Podcast: Betrayal: Seasons 1, 2, 3 & 4
Date: August 21, 2025
Host: Andrea Gunning
Guest: Angela MacVicar
This episode tells the story of Angela MacVicar, a Scottish grandmother, whose world was upended by trust, hope, and, ultimately, shocking betrayal. It explores Angela’s journey through her daughter Joanna’s battle with leukemia, the founding of the Rainbow Valley cancer charity in Joanna’s memory, and the devastating discovery that her closest friend and co-founder, Lindsay McCallum, had been systematically stealing from the charity for years. Angela shares her grief, anger, and hard-won resilience, illuminating both the depths of her loss and her determination to keep believing in good.
[03:13–04:51]
Memorable Quote:
"Being a young mum and having four...children, there was rarely a quiet moment."
– Angela MacVicar [04:33]
[05:13–10:27]
Memorable Moment:
Angela recalls the critical nurse’s advice:
"She wasn't giving me tea and sympathy... she was being a bit of a badass with me... just telling me without saying the words, 'pull yourself together, you're gonna have to do this.'"
– Angela MacVicar [07:44]
[11:18–16:42]
Quote:
"You didn't get one without the other. It was like cheese and pickle."
– Angela MacVicar [16:47]
[18:28–28:13]
Quote:
"Remove Valley is not a life-saving charity. Remove Valley is a life-changing charity... it's what can you do to take back control of a diagnosis of cancer and live a more joyous life."
– Angela MacVicar [28:43]
[31:03–37:31]
Quote:
"She started telling me that people didn't like me and that I was causing upset on the course ... she had me convinced that I was creating this negative atmosphere."
– Angela MacVicar [32:26]
[39:12–45:36]
Memorable Dialogue:
Kendall: "Bullshit. Open your eyes and look at it properly."
– [44:53]
[47:47–56:34]
Quotes:
"The person I thought she was for me had died. She no longer existed."
– Angela MacVicar [50:02]
"It's just left me wondering, did she ever have any love for...any of us?...Were we just a meal ticket for her? And that hurts like hell."
– Angela MacVicar [53:43]
[56:34–57:46]
Quote:
"I refuse to live my life not trusting people... I know there are more good people in the world than there are bad, and that's what I hang on to."
– Angela MacVicar [56:42]
Quote:
"When you have a rainbow, it's guaranteed the sun will come out eventually."
– Angela MacVicar [58:54]
This episode is a raw, emotional account of deep trust, shocking betrayal, and hard-won resilience. Angela’s story is about more than fraud—it’s about hope prevailing through unimaginable grief and hurt, about refusing bitterness, and the determination to honor a daughter’s legacy. Her words offer a message of surviving the worst, with the promise, like a rainbow after the storm, that hope and goodness can return.