Belfast woman who ‘strung along’ man over kidney donation is sentenced

A Belfast woman who “let down” a seriously ill man with a lie that she would donate her kidney to him has been branded “heartless” and “inhumane”.

On Thursday, Nicola Hutton, from Strandburn Drive, was sentenced to five months in prison after being found guilty of making a false statement.

The 54-year-old was contacted by Billy Cullen, who needed a kidney transplant, and his wife Joan after they applied for a donor.

Ms Cullen told BBC News NI they believed Hutton was an “angel” who would save her husband's life.

“She said, 'I'm coming, it's OK,'” Ms. Cullen said.

“And we just thought this woman was an angel. She came into our lives, she is going to save my husband's life. And at this stage Billy could no longer work because his condition was rapidly deteriorating. Things took their course and as far as we were concerned, Nicola was going to be our donor.”

Hutton told the couple that she had been attending appointments and undergoing tests and that the surgery would be carried out within a few months.

The court heard Hutton also met the couple, who gave her a gift set from Marc Jacobs as a token of gratitude.

Ms Cullen said: “We got a call from the kidney team one day and said, 'There's nothing more we can do for you, Billy.' We said: “No, no, we have a donor.”

“We were told: “No, you don’t have a donor. The kidney team conducted its own investigation and discovered that the woman had never applied to be a donor. She didn’t even submit the form or make a phone call.”

She said the family's “world had collapsed.”

Hutton appeared at Belfast Magistrates' Court for sentencing on Thursday, where District Judge Francis Rafferty described her act as an “egregious act”.

He said she was an “emotional parasite” who fed on the couple's despair and “reveled” in offering them false hope.

“You presented yourself as an angel or savior and received praise and praise for it, even though you knew you were as much a malignant process in their lives as any disease or illness,” the judge said.

“Your disgusting, repulsive behavior was compounded by the fact that you maintained your catalog of lies and evasions, you demanded that a member of the transplant team take time away from the work they were doing, sit in court and listen to you lie about them, their procedures and their professionalism,” he added.

“At a time when the family faced the greatest threat of all – the loss of their husband and father, you decided to infiltrate their world and spread poison, evil and false hope.

“The search process, which irritated the family, caused them to suffer in reality.”

He told how the couple called off their search for a donor, overjoyed when Hutton told them she was a match and offered “not just respite, but salvation.”

“The family saw you as their savior, and then (their) world stopped when your lies and your evil machinations were exposed,” the judge said.

“I can only imagine how horrified they felt when they realized you had been lying to them this whole time.”

The court heard that although Mr Cullen has since received a kidney from a legal donor, the six months wasted believing Hutton was the donor could have had the most serious physical consequences.

Ms Cullen told the BBC that when the family first sought a donor in the summer of 2024, her husband's kidney function was at 15 per cent.

By the time Nikola “kept us for 6 months,” his function had dropped to nine and 10 percent, she said.

“Then he had to have surgery to put in dialysis tubes and then he had to start dialysis,” she said.

“He went through a lot of emotions. It's not just that she did this to us, but why? We just don't understand, we still don't understand, what she could have gotten out of it. The search should have continued and would have continued if I had not believed this woman’s heartless lies.”

In court, referring to Hutton's complaint of online abuse after her offenses were revealed, the judge emphasized that she had engaged in online conduct designed to cause emotional distress and physical harm.

“You lied repeatedly about being on the transplant registry, you lied about your doctor visits, you received gifts from these people, you babysat them,” he told her.

“You took them to the dance, deceiving them at every turn.

“Like some kind of emotional parasite, you fed on their despair and reveled in their hopes and kind comments online about what you were doing.”

Mr Rafferty described his sentencing powers for the offense as “hardly appropriate”.

“I can't imagine a more cruel act,” he added.

Jailing Hutton for five months, the judge said: “People like you living in the online world need to understand that actions have consequences.

“Given the cruelty you have inflicted on these people, the only punishment I can impose is immediate imprisonment.

“A family facing the battle of their lives found you on their doorstep, offering help and salvation.

“The entire time you knew what you were doing was a complete and utter atrocity.”

Following Thursday's sentencing, Hutton appealed and was released on bail.