Stage four breast cancer, she said. Terminal, she said. <\/p>\n
The countdown was on and Flint was sharing her final plans and wishes with her closest friends. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy God, it was so emotional,\u201d said Emma Butler, who travelled to and from the UK several times to spend as much time as possible with Flint before she succumbed to the cruel disease. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have somebody taking you to the place their ashes are imminently going to be scattered \u2026 everyone\u2019s grieving for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always just so emotionally charged because every time I left her, I thought I\u2019d never see her again \u2026 It was just so hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Butler said her elderly parents were so moved by Flint\u2019s plight that they sent her a large sum of money. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019d said basically: \u2018I\u2019ve not been able to take my treatment for six weeks and three new tumours have grown in my stomach, I can\u2019t afford to pay the top-up to get unlimited treatment forever\u2019,\u201d Butler recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was absolutely devastated. I rang my mum and dad and said \u2018oh God, I\u2019ve just had the worst news \u2013 it looks like Nicola is coming to the end. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my mum and dad sent her \u00a313,000 ($30,000) to pay the top- up. I think it was within two days she\u2019d got that money in her account \u2013 my dad had gone in and sorted out an international transfer and stuff into the bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd obviously it was all bulls*** \u2013 but at the time we didn\u2019t know it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
From mourning to outrage <\/p>\n
In June 2024, everything Flint\u2019s family and friends knew about her began to unravel in spectacular fashion when she was charged with stealing more than $100,000 from the city\u2019s oldest rugby club.<\/p>\n
Flint failed to appear in the Christchurch District Court on a raft of charges. A warrant for her arrest was issued. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
Flint had been in charge of the finances and trust account of Christchurch Football Club and was facing nine charges, including causing loss by deception, forgery, using forged documents, theft by a person in a special relationship and taking, and obtaining or using a document for pecuniary advantage, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
It is understood most of the funds Flint is accused of pilfering were earmarked for junior rugby teams. <\/p>\n
By the time Flint\u2019s court date came through, she had fled to the UK with her husband, Andrew, and their teenage children. <\/p>\n
Then, further accusations that Flint had forged medical documents \u2013 letters from cancer specialists and surgeons. <\/p>\n
Police say she used those letters to deceive ANZ \u2013 where she had worked for many years \u2013 into paying out more than $84,000 by way of medical retirement. <\/p>\n
Butler remembers being in Holland when the news broke. <\/p>\n
Flint and her husband and children had stayed with her for the first few months they were back in the UK. <\/p>\n
But the women fell out over Flint\u2019s \u201cbizarre\u201d behaviour. <\/p>\n
Childhood best friend Emma Butler (left) is one of those who believed Nicola Flint’s death was imminent. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cPsychologically, she was difficult to live with. She was very short-tempered, very changeable \u2013 she just put everybody on edge,\u201d Butler said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to fall out with somebody who\u2019s \u2018terminally ill\u2019. But that\u2019s how much she\u2019d pushed me. I couldn\u2019t tolerate it any longer \u2013 even though she was dying, she\u2019d pushed me, she\u2019d pushed our friendship and my boundaries so far. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat took a terrible toll on me, falling out with somebody who was effectively dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
While in Holland, one of Flint\u2019s Kiwi friends contacted Butler to let her know the first news stories had been published about the criminal charges. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Nicola arrived in the UK, on the journey from the airport she told me that she\u2019d been accused of stealing money, but that she hadn\u2019t stolen the money and it was a vendetta from the chairman of the club,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said that he had created a whole narrative around her and he basically ruined her life \u2013 so I was kind of familiar with the story because she\u2019d already given me her spin on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flint called Butler soon after.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe rang me and she just kept saying over and over again \u2018I haven\u2019t been disingenuous\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all really odd because by that point, it became quite clear that there were so many lies that had gone on.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was angry at one point, she was crying at one point, her voice was so quiet at one point, I could hardly hear her. She was the victim \u2026 and I just thought, my God, how have I not noticed that this person can adopt all these different styles to manipulate me? And it was really apparent that that\u2019s what she was doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe that my best friend of all these years was capable of that \u2026 and I still thought maybe she\u2019s got cancer, but it\u2019s not as bad as she said? And then all of the stuff started coming out about the fake letters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until the police went on the television and said \u2018we can find no record of her having treatment\u2019 … That\u2019s when I believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long-time friend Emma Butler (left): \u201cHow could you be so cruel to do that to everybody around you?” Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Butler said Flint\u2019s actions had a \u201cprofound effect\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was impacted not just about the lies, but you\u2019ve got to remember carrying that weight that your best friend\u2019s going to die is a real heavy thing to carry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I thought of Nicola, I thought about the fact that she was dying \u2013 because that\u2019s what happens when you\u2019ve got somebody so young who\u2019s going to leave her children.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was almost my body had to unlearn the response to the name Nicola. It was like hold on, she\u2019s not dying, that wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow could you be so cruel to do that to everybody around you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Police unravel alleged lies, forgery, theft<\/p>\n
The case against Flint is outlined in court documents provided to the Herald. <\/p>\n
She is facing nine charges for offences she allegedly committed between November 2014 and June 2023. <\/p>\n
Some of the charges are representative, meaning police believe Flint committed multiple offences of the same type in similar circumstances.<\/p>\n
The charges include:<\/p>\n
Faking numerous medical letters from St George\u2019s Cancer Care and Canterbury Breastcare, intending them to be \u201cacted upon as genuine\u201d or to obtain money; Causing a loss of $84,953.87 to ANZ through a medical retirement granted to her on the basis of her \u201cdiagnosis\u201d;Stealing money she received on various occasions in her role with the club that was supposed to be paid into club accounts;Dishonestly using a club credit card on multiple occasions <\/p>\n
The court documents also include a statement from the detective who investigated Flint.<\/p>\n
She said the investigation began after the club alleged Flint had \u201ctaken over $85,000 from the club and had since left the country\u201d.<\/p>\n
Nicola Flint pictured in the UK soon after she fled New Zealand. It is understood she was attending a party and was captured on video dancing. Photo \/ Newshub<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegations were that Flint had altered Christchurch Football Club invoices by changing the club bank account number. This resulted in funds being paid into a non-club bank account, alleged to belong to Flint.\u201d<\/p>\n
In March 2024, the detective contacted Interpol for assistance in finding Flint. The agency provided an address in West Northamptonshire<\/p>\n
\u201cI later learned that this was the address of family friend Emma Butler, where the Flint family had been residing for three months following their arrival in the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn 8 April 2024, I sent a letter via email to Nicola Flint advising her of the investigation into her employment with Christchurch Football Club and wanting to speak with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the detective continued to investigate Flint\u2019s actions and transactions. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can confirm that invoices that were due to the Christchurch Football Club were paid into the account [owned by Flint)],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther misappropriation of funds was also identified \u2026 in regard to a junior club chocolate fundraiser and unauthorised spending on a Christchurch Football Club bank card.\u201d<\/p>\n
After \u201csignificant media attention\u201d over the allegations against Flint, police began investigating claims she had forged medical documents, including letters purporting to be from surgeon Phillipa Mercer. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese letters have also been used to medically retire from her previous employer, ANZ bank,\u201d the detective said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice have obtained a signed statement from Dr Mercer in relation to these forged letters. She confirmed to police that she did not write these and they do not reflect her medical opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
In late April 2024, a court order was granted allowing police to access all the documentation relating to Flint\u2019s medical retirement from ANZ. <\/p>\n
Flint had worked at ANZ for years, but was granted a medical retirement on the back of forged cancer letters. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
The documentation included another medical letter, from Dr David Gibbs. <\/p>\n
\u201cPolice have obtained a statement from Dr Gibbs confirming that the letter has been forged,\u201d said the detective. <\/p>\n
During the investigation, lawyer Linda Drummond contacted police to say she had been instructed by Flint and the alleged offender would not be making a statement. <\/p>\n
Flint and her family also left Butler\u2019s home. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow the whereabouts of the family is unknown. I received a further call from Butler on 6 May 2024. She advised that there had been no further information in relation to enrolments for the Flint children, meaning that they had been reported as missing in education. This is considered very serious in the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n
\u201cFlint\u2019s mother is believed to live in Wales and they may have moved to this location, but no further details are known.\u201d<\/p>\n
After leaving New Zealand, Flint and her husband sold their Christchurch home. After the rugby club took legal action, the couple were forced to hand over almost $100,000 from the proceeds.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s legal and accountancy fees were also paid. <\/p>\n
The Herald requested an interview with police about the case. That was declined, but a statement was provided. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn cases where a person has left the country, police seek advice from Interpol on our possible next steps, including extradition,\u201d it reads. <\/p>\n
\u201cExtradition processes are on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the country and nature of offending. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter considering a number of factors, extradition won\u2019t be taking place in this matter. Police are unable to provide further comment at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Web of \u2018lies\u2019 a real slap in the face <\/p>\n
Neither Nicola \u2013 who may be using her maiden name Curry \u2013 nor her husband responded to the Herald. <\/p>\n
But former friends and some of Andrew Flint\u2019s family were prepared to speak about the situation.<\/p>\n
Laura lived on the same street as Flint and bonded with her after the 2011 earthquake. <\/p>\n
Nicola Flint convinced many people she had terminal cancer. She has been charged with forging medical documents and police say there is no evidence she was diagnosed with the disease. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cThat day was pretty horrendous for everybody \u2026 after that we spent a lot of time with her, welcomed her into our neighbourhood group and started getting to know her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were pretty close \u2026 There wasn\u2019t a day we weren\u2019t in touch, either by text, by phone or face to face.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was fun, she had a great sense of humour, she just seemed to fit in with everyone. There was nothing odd at all at the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laura will never forget the moment she first heard about Flint\u2019s \u201ccancer\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in shock \u2026 it was very upsetting, especially because she told us all that it was inoperable and it was stage four, and it was terminal and that there was no chance of her surviving it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard to process \u2026 awful. And then, as best friends, naturally, you rally, don\u2019t you? I was like, what can we do? How can we help? How can we support you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told some pretty big whoppers \u2026 now in hindsight, we can see that in our friend group, she would section us off and keep us apart \u2026 it was always a \u2018one-at-a-time\u2019 sort of thing. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe definitely started keeping people at arm\u2019s length and creating these little factions, these little sections of people, so that we couldn\u2019t all be together. Because if we were, we might share stories and realise that actually, \u2018that\u2019s not how I remember her telling us that\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019s not what she showed me\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she used to tell us awful things about Andrew that really made us dislike him \u2013 a lot. That\u2019s really sad \u2026 she just crushed so many people like that. She was quite clever and manipulative in that way. We can see that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laura said the journey with Flint was \u201cheartbreaking\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always hear about people\u2019s cancer stories and you never think it\u2019s really gonna happen to someone you know and love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when it does, it\u2019s actually quite hard to get your head around. And it was just sad \u2013 we cried a lot. I was really grieving for my friend and I tried to just be a comfort and a companion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laura said it never occurred to her that Flint was lying. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome time later we sort of thought, \u2018gosh, you know, for someone with stage four terminal cancer, she\u2019s certainly looking very well\u2019, \u201c she said.<\/p>\n
A family member says Nicola Flint\u2019s alleged offending was \u201cdisgusting\u201d. Photo \/ Newshub<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I didn\u2019t question her because I\u2019ve got this optimistic view of people that they\u2019re good, honest folk; that there\u2019s good in everybody and that no one in their right mind would lie about something as serious as that. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to also put their children through that and their husband through that and their family through that \u2013 I never entertained the idea that she\u2019d lie because that\u2019s just so hurtful and so sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laura was sickened when the allegations against Flint went public. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was just gobsmacked \u2026 it was just mind-blowing that she would have the gall to do that, to actually forge documents,” she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you started thinking, well, clearly she\u2019s not well because to do that something\u2019s got to be missing in your life that you need all the attention that comes from dying from cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt really weird. I was really angry when I found out because she just lied to so many people \u2013 she\u2019d cheated and stolen and deceived, and what kind of person does that?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI want her back here to answer for what she\u2019s done \u2013 and not just the criminal charges. She has actually hurt a lot of people. It\u2019s just so sad that she could actually treat people like that. It makes me cross.\u201d <\/p>\n
While some of Flint\u2019s behaviour was odd at times, Laura said there were no red flags.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was an enigmatic person. She had one of those great personalities that sort of attracted people to her, so she had a big group of friends \u2013 really good people who were kind, wonderful and nice. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of those people are now reeling and going \u2018oh my God, how could she do that to us and to our children\u2019. I mean you trust your friends and this was a real kick in the guts, a real slap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018For a while she was normal\u2019 <\/p>\n
Flint and her husband are estranged from his family. <\/p>\n
They met in Bermuda and moved to New Zealand when Flint was pregnant with their first child.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a while their life \u2013 on the surface \u2013 seemed pretty normal,\u201d said Andrew Flint\u2019s sister, Debbie Jansen. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut there were these stories that, when you look back, just didn\u2019t add up. Like, when I first met her she said that she grew up in a house like Downton Abbey and had servants. Then her mother apparently ran over a person at a crossing and she had to pay all her money to get her mother out of a court case \u2026 it was that, and then apparently she said that she\u2019d [her mother had] killed the father because he was sick and then that had gone to court as well, so she had to pay money for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flint had been in charge of the finances and trust account of Christchurch Football Club. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Jansen said Flint began borrowing money from an older member of the family. No one questioned her at first \u2013 no one suspected she would lie about such serious situations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of elements of normal, which kind of made all the other stuff \u2026 you didn\u2019t worry about it or you just moved on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The relationship between Jansen and her brother and sister-in-law broke down in 2013. <\/p>\n
She said Flint told her \u201clie upon lie\u201d about a car Jansen had lent her \u2013 claiming it \u201cwasn\u2019t worth warranting\u201d and she \u201cmight as well just sell it for scrap\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband\u2019s brother went and picked up the car and it was absolutely fine. I don\u2019t know why she lied about that; there was no reason to at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to my brother, \u2018I think we\u2019ll just keep that car,\u2019 and he was a little bit upset about that. And then it just got worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I sort of started to realise that all the things that had happened in the past, all the stuff that she\u2019d told us, just wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jansen heard about Flint\u2019s terminal diagnosis from other family members. It was not the first time she\u2019d claimed to have cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe first cancer was when we were still all talking \u2026 I remember she had cervical cancer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was saying how it was really bad. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it hit the headlines, I emailed my brother \u2026 and he was just like \u2018she\u2019s really sick\u2019 and \u2019she\u2019s getting better care here\u2019. He was certainly supporting her in the fact that she was still sick. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually crazy how well she can suck people in \u2026 and one of the reasons that I agreed to speak is because I don\u2019t think she\u2019ll stop and I think that\u2019s a way of life for her. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe lies will never stop and she\u2019s likely to hurt someone else or steal someone else\u2019s money \u2013 that\u2019s what I think. She\u2019s very good at it \u2026 I feel like something\u2019s not right in the head that you think that you can carry on like that without feeling any remorse or shame or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jansen worried about her brother, niece and nephew. She said she would always love and support them and would be there for them whenever they needed her. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a real concern. My greatest fear is that Andrew is over [in the UK] without his family and he\u2019s very isolated \u2026 and I just think he\u2019s he\u2019s just too proud to come back because he feels bad, but actually, our door would always be open for him and the kids. Always,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy message to Nicola? She\u2019s got to stop and she needs to face the charges. She probably won\u2019t, but I think she needs to be honest \u2026 she needs to find some compassion somewhere. I don\u2019t think that will ever happen, though. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think this story is really important as hopefully, it will help in the future for the kids or help people not to be duped by Nicola.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flint\u2019s actions \u2018disgusting … so wrong\u2019<\/p>\n
Another Flint family member spoke on condition of anonymity. She said Flint\u2019s alleged offending was \u201cdisgusting\u201d and \u201cso wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a nurse and I\u2019ve nursed a lot of cancer patients, and to think these poor people are living with cancer and dying from cancer, and she can do this? She\u2019s just degrading the whole health system where cancer is concerned. It\u2019s just wrong and I am very, very angry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She believed Flint had \u201cpulled the wool over\u201d her husband\u2019s eyes and he was now stuck in a situation he felt he could not get out of. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe is very cunning. She must have a bloody good brain for organising things and making sure she never fell off her perch with the lies she told. It\u2019s like a big web.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew will never leave those children. And I am sure that is why he\u2019s with her \u2013 even though he knows what\u2019s going on now. He just absolutely loves kids and he will never leave his own kids \u2013 he will put up with hell or high water to be with those kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relative said Flint\u2019s son was still in contact with a friend in New Zealand and had messaged an update recently. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe said \u2018Mummy hasn\u2019t got cancer anymore \u2013 the doctors in the UK have fixed her, whereas the ones in New Zealand couldn\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s obviously what she\u2019s told him \u2026 but it\u2019s just totally wrong. It is just disgusting \u2026 she\u2019s hurt so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman first heard about the charges when a friend texted her to say Flint was going to be on the television news that night. <\/p>\n
\u201cI could have dropped dead on the floor, it was such a shock. It was just unreal, just unbelievable,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got a really warped mind \u2026 you\u2019d have to, to even try some of the things she\u2019s done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t understand why she\u2019d do it to us. She really is a manipulator, a real crook. And what annoys me the most is that she\u2019s not going to be held responsible for it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how she can live with herself.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the letters Flint was accused of faking. She has been charged with forging this letter from a leading cancer surgeon. Photo \/ Supplied
One of the letters Flint allegedly faked from a leading Christchurch cancer surgeon. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
She wanted to be clear that while she wanted no more to do with Flint, her husband and children were still deeply loved by their family in New Zealand. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe would dearly love them to come home and just be amongst his loved ones. The door is always open for him and the children. And to the kids \u2013 I mean, no one really knows what they\u2019ve been told about us, but they\u2019ve got family here that love them very much.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relative also wanted to make sure that wherever Flint was now, people were aware of her alleged offending.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe very wary of her \u2013 very wary. Question everything she says \u2026 she absolutely won\u2019t stop. Why would she stop now? It\u2019s become her life. And the way the police talked to us, they said that people like that don\u2019t stop, they just keep going until they\u2019re caught,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been diabolical \u2026 her tentacles have reached into a lot of places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seven years of lies: Flint\u2019s elaborate efforts<\/p>\n
Flint\u2019s closest friend also spoke to the Herald. They spent Christmases together and considered themselves \u201csecond mum\u201d to each other\u2019s children. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe became as thick as thieves, it was a pretty close friendship,\u201d said Jane (not her real name). <\/p>\n
\u201cWe hung out a lot and we had a lot of fun. Nicola Flint is a lot of fun \u2013 she\u2019s hilarious and witty. She\u2019s kind and if you\u2019re going through something, she will be there for you. There\u2019s part of me that misses that friendship \u2026 I\u2019ve cried and cried \u2026 It was one of those rare friendships where it\u2019s not just the mums, it\u2019s genuinely the whole family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane recalled the beginning of Flint\u2019s cancer story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember that day because it was the day [former Prime Minister] John Key resigned. I\u2019m a real news nerd and I remember being at school pick-up, walking up to her and saying \u2018Oh my gosh, did you hear the Prime Minister has resigned\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she just said to me, I found a lump in my breast. She was really worried. I was mortified … I\u2019ve been dealt a pretty rough hand from cancer. My mum died when I was 2 and my mum\u2019s brother and sister died when they were aged 4 and 16. My grandmother died at 45 from breast cancer. So when I grew up, basically everyone but me and my granddad had died from cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201cCancer is something I\u2019m acutely aware of \u2013 the hurt and the hole that cancer leaves behind. So, when somebody has cancer, I\u2019m there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicola Flint. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Jane believes Flint did have a lump and had it checked. But after that, her story was all fantasy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspect the lying started when she got those results back. I suspect we enjoyed the attention that she got, and when she probably got the result back, the result was negative, but we were all told it was stage four and she was terminally ill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI genuinely thought that she had cancer and she would go into great detail about some of the symptoms that she was experiencing, and they were horrific \u2013 and the treatments she was having. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis went on for about seven years. We went away to M\u0101pua with her and Andrew and the kids for Christmas Day three years in a row because it was going to be her \u2018last\u2019 Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane said people in her wider circle questioned Flint\u2019s diagnosis, but she stood firm with her friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a few years, I had other friends who are in the medical field say to me \u2018Jane, this doesn\u2019t ring true\u2019 and I would say \u2018no, no you don\u2019t understand M\u0101 she is just amazing and she copes really well, she\u2019s just really strong\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, she taught her daughter to braid her hair because she wasn\u2019t going to be around. Her kids had been told that she was dying. Who would put their kids through it?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the end of the day, you know, we\u2019ve had a police officer go on national television and say there is no evidence that she has cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Close friend Jane was devastated to find out Flint had been lying to her for years. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n
After Flint left the country, Jane and another friend began comparing notes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day we were having a glass of wine at her house and I said, \u2018have you ever doubted the cancer thing? Has anybody ever said to you, \u2018That\u2019s not true?\u2019 And she said \u2018yes\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was still pretty unfathomable at that point that she would have lied to us both \u2013 but, more importantly, that she would have lied to the kids and Andrew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane remembered that Flint had emailed her medical letters from cancer specialists. She pulled them up and the women were horrified to realise that on close inspection, they did not look right. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe scrolled down on two letters supposedly from the same surgeon and two different signatures. We just looked at each other and we started panicking and saying \u2018surely not\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police eventually investigated the letters, resulting in some of the charges Flint is now facing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was just mortified,\u201d Jane said. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe has lied about her health so much \u2026 and at one point she told us that Andrew might have terminal cancer. I remember leaving work that day and having a conversation with my family that night about \u2018if Andrew\u2019s dying too, we\u2019ll take the kids\u2019. And I\u2019ve talked to two other people whose families also had that awful conversation that night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane has not had any contact with Flint since she was charged in 2024. <\/p>\n
Shortly before that, the alleged offender had said she had undergone a treatment in the UK called CyberKnife \u2013 a non-invasive, robotic form of radiation that blasts high doses of radiation to tumours.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019d always said in New Zealand that her life was going to be short because you couldn\u2019t have CyberKnife here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSix days of CyberKnife she allegedly had and then eventually, few weeks later, on the 5th of March 2024, she said to me: \u2018so going from stage four cancer in New Zealand to I have six days of CyberKnife and those tumours are obliterated\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then she told me that she had cancer and tumours in her bowel and that she was going to have her bowel removed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane has reached out to Andrew Flint and let him know her family loves and supports him and his children. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy message to them is come home \u2013 or at least, it\u2019s cool if you don\u2019t want to come home, but please don\u2019t cut yourselves off from everyone here who loves you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nicola Flint is believed to be in Wales. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cMy advice to Nicola would be to just go and talk to someone because this is not normal behaviour. I don\u2019t think that someone who has lied to an entire community and their family about having cancer is just going to come right. I think that\u2019s a condition that probably needs some treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it must be pretty hard and pretty exhausting. And at the end of the day, if what you said was right and you are innocent \u2013 prove it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know a lot of people have a real desire for her to pay for what she\u2019s done. I don\u2019t necessarily feel that way. I just want the kids and Andrew to have some truth. That would be great. But I don\u2019t think that will happen and I suspect that the lies have continued.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicola Flint\u2019s case will be covered in depth in a two-part podcast special. A Moment In Crime – Diagnosis? Deception <\/a>will be available in January 2026. <\/p>\n Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stage four breast cancer, she said. Terminal, she said. The countdown was on and Flint was sharing her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114847,1554,5845,5272,1643,4057,2534,4487,18836,45938,6147,796,42834,69675,2550,48338,15124,131768,131767,24810,3561,6126,1445,71,6637,131769,42,5838,4735,2944,5844,6148,5846,29546,3523,130,43,20484,425,131770,675,766,6327,122657,5843,5348,15412,123634,30331,131,14168,2846,8229,2742,6859,40,38,41,39,96121,1491,540,6730,15123],"class_list":["post-218286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-114847","tag-alleged","tag-anna","tag-ashes","tag-bank","tag-behind","tag-cancer","tag-christchurch","tag-club","tag-con","tag-crime","tag-diagnosis","tag-dying","tag-elaborate","tag-even","tag-fallout","tag-fight","tag-flint","tag-flints","tag-forged","tag-fraud","tag-fraudster","tag-friends","tag-from","tag-gave","tag-grieved","tag-headlines","tag-help","tag-hides","tag-inside","tag-journalist","tag-justice","tag-leask","tag-letters","tag-medical","tag-more","tag-news","tag-nicola","tag-now","tag-payouts","tag-police","tag-reports","tag-rugby","tag-scattered","tag-senior","tag-showing","tag-spot","tag-tales","tag-terminal","tag-than","tag-theft","tag-them","tag-they","tag-thousands","tag-told","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-totalling","tag-wales","tag-where","tag-would","tag-yearslong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A Moment in Crime is a NZ Herald crime podcast, with new episodes out every month. <\/p>\n