Matthew, the now 25-year-old son of Lisa Hayden-Johnson – dubbed Britain's "most evil mum" – has revealed he still bears physical scars from unnecessary surgeries he was forced to undergo as a child as part of his mother's fabricated illness scheme. From the age of four, Hayden-Johnson forced Matthew into a wheelchair and had him "treated" for invented conditions including cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, diabetes and food allergies, exploiting his supposed illnesses for publicity and money as the mother of "Britain's sickest boy". The case matters as a stark example of fabricated or induced illness abuse that went undetected by medical professionals for years.

Hayden-Johnson, 52, of Brixham, Devon, connected Matthew to an oxygen tank and used the deception to meet Queen Camilla, Sir Tony Blair and Simon Cowell before health workers and school staff alerted police, leading to her imprisonment for more than three years in 2010. Matthew, speaking ahead of a new Channel 4 documentary, Love You To Death, airing at 9pm on Wednesday, described scars from surgery to fit a feeding tube and questioned why medical staff took over six years to identify what was happening. He said he does not feel anger over his ordeal but is disappointed at how long it took to be uncovered, and confirmed he cut ties with his mother a couple of years ago.