Ex-Hockeyroo Kate Hubble faked cancer letters to defraud charity claiming ‘my cancer is terminal’

FORMER Hockeyroo Kate Hubble faked cancer letters to defraud a charity and told friends “my cancer is terminal”.

FORMER Hockeyroos goalkeeper Kate Hubble faked letters to defraud a cancer charity, forging signatures to claim she was terminally ill with cancer.

Hubble, 32, used the identities of real oncologists to fake letters so she could transfer to Sydney to allegedly undergo radiation therapy.

At one point she told her boss at the Redkite cancer charity, “My cancer is serious. It is terminal. I don’t have a great deal of time.”

Hubble also claimed she had part of her liver removed, had operations to remove tumours on other organs and that she would be undergoing intravenous immunotherapy treatment.

The former Olympic hopeful pleaded guilty in the Sydney Downing Centre Local Court on Monday to two charges each of making and using a false document to obtain financial advantage.

One of the few members of Australia’s national female hockey squad to train for the 2012 London Olympics injury free, Hubble told colleagues at Redkite in 2015 that cancer had made her too ill to work.

NSW Police Facts seen by news.com.au state that Hubble created a fake email address for one cancer specialist.

Former Olympic hopeful and Hockeyroo goalkeeper Kate Hubble (above) faked cancer letters to defraud the charity Redkite.

Hubble with race car driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Hubble told friends she was ‘terminal’.

She then used another oncologist’s letter in Redkite’s computer records to invent a medical certificate from him describing serious cancer treatment she would undergo.

Her fraud has cost the Redkite charity more than $50,000 in salary, sick leave and other costs, the police facts say.

Hubble began working for Redkite in Sydney as a Team Co-ordinator in 2014.

The following year was promoted to Partnership & Event Specialist in her home state of Western Australia on a salary of $72,966.

In 2015, she told Redkite she had health issues and two letters on her personnel file from a Perth oncologist say she is unfit for work, and then only able to work part-time.

The second letter says her work status is pending completion of her treatment cycle.

Hubble then requested a transfer to Sydney to seek treatment for cancer.

The request was granted and Hubble moved states.

The facts state that Redkite’s General Manager, People & Culture, Graeme Bartram “had numerous “one on one conversations” with Hubble.

Hubble faked letters from oncologists saying she was undergoing serious cancer treatment.

The 2012 London Olympic hopeful claimed she had cancer in 2015 and that she was receiving immunotherapy.

When she told him her cancer was “terminal” and “I don’t have a great deal of time”, he told her Redkite had a “duty of care” to her.

On June 26 this year, Mr Bartram also requested supporting documentation from her medical specialists.

The following day, Mr Bartram received an email purporting to be from Dr Mark Sywak, who is professor of surgery at North Shore Private Hospital and at Royal North Shore Hospital.

The letter said she was unfit for work post surgery on June 19 this year, and that her treating physician Dr Gearoid O’Connor would provide further directives as to her health status.

Dr Sywak later told police the signature wasn’t his and that he had never prepared the document sent in his name.

On the same day, Mr Bartram also received emails from Hubble enclosing letters from Dr O’Connor.

Kate Hubble pictured ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

One letter said Hubble was a patient at Darlinghurst Medical Centre and gave advice for calling an ambulance if she fainted and suffered a “serious injury”.

In the second letter, Dr O’Connor stated “Kate is beginning immunotherapy treatment this week” and that it would be “intravenously administered” over a period of months.

The letter discussed side effects including pain, and suggested she work from home so as not to risk infection from a depleted immune system.

Dr O’Connor told police the letters were forged, but that the signature on each was his.

In a recorded interview with police at Redfern station in August, Hubble admitted to creating an email address for Dr Sywak and editing an original letter from Dr O’Connor on her computer.

Court documents say that Hubble, who is living in Sydney, is unemployed and was issued a shoplifting infringement in February this year.

Hubble is due to be sentenced later this week.