Woman's Hour - 08/03/2010

With Jane Garvey. A woman who cheated her grandmother and her fiance out of 150,000 pounds has been jailed for three years. The 25-year-old from Newcastle claimed she was a successful photographer and that she had cancer. The judge described her as 'wicked', despite the fact that she suffered from a personality disorder. But to what extent can you be 'wicked' if you have a personality disorder? Peter Harris, a BBC reporter in Newcastle, joins Jane to talk about the case. Dr Kevin Healy, Clinical Director of Cassel Hospital in London, and musician Kayla Kavanagh who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, also discuss the issue. Helen Skelton became the 33rd Blue Peter presenter in 2008. In aid of 2010 Sport Relief she aimed to complete a 2,010-mile solo kayak journey down the length of the Amazon River, a feat Helen achieved on 28th February and in the process set two Guinness World Records. For six weeks she faced heat exhaustion, sea sickness, aching limbs, a sunken support boat and a splintered kayak, not to mention an impromptu tarantula passenger. Now back in Britain, Helen joins Jane to discuss her achievement, one of the toughest physical challenges ever undertaken for Sport Relief. Accomplished seamstress Jean Baggott has produced a cross-stitch tapestry detailing the events of her life. She focuses on her wartime childhood in the industrialised Black Country, her vivid memories of growing up in a house where the bath hung on a nail on the yard and children made rag rugs, and she sets the narrative within a wider historical context. Jean is now 72 and in the final year of studying for a history degree. She joins Jane to look back on her life and the pictures that she has created. Annie Fisher was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer four months ago. Having planned a special trip to visit friends in the USA this summer, she was dismayed to find travel insurance quotes as high as 1,000 pounds. Why do insurers perceive cancer sufferers to be of such high risk? Are their premiums justified? And what other options are there for people who want to travel with pre-existing medical conditions like cancer? Jane speaks to Fiona Macrae, who has launched a travel insurance policy specifically for women suffering from breast cancer, and Graeme Trudgill from the British Insurance Brokers Association.