Woman who raised £330,000 for disabled mugging victim Alan Barnes says she ‘wishes she hadn’t got involved’
Katie Cutler abandons plans to set up charitable foundation in her name after long-running dispute
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Your support makes all the difference.A woman who raised £330,000 for disabled mugging victim Alan Barnes said she sometimes wished she had “never got involved”, after becoming embroiled in a legal dispute with a PR firm that helped raise the profile of her campaign.
Katie Cutler, 23, launched a crowd funding campaign to help Mr Barnes, who stands at 4ft 6in, after he was attacked at his home in Gateshead and suffered a broken collarbone.
Donations flooded in, and Ms Cutler was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2015 for her role in the appeal.
But Ms Cutler is currently facing legal action over a bill for £6,687 from a PR firm she hired to boost the campaign’s publicity.
Claire Barber charged £550 a day for 14.5 days work over five months and is taking Ms Cutler to court over the unpaid bill.
Speaking to the Mirror, Ms Cutler said the dispute has been a “terrible ordeal”.
She said: “Of course there are times when I wish I never got involved.
“But then I think of the people I helped and I cannot regret it for long.
“All I ever wanted to do was to help others. I have been approached by so many people for help but have had to say no because of this legal action against me. It is a terrible ordeal.”
Ms Cutler has abandoned plans to set up a charitable foundation in her name.
Ms Barber became involved in the campaign after offering her services to help raise more funds.
But Ms Cutler said: “I wish we had never met and this was over.”
In a statement, Ms Barber said: “There was no charity, Katie wanted to raise her own profile and had plans of her own to set up the Katie Cutler Foundation.
“We worked together achieving blanket bespoke PR coverage. Katie made two payments in June 2015, then proceeded to write all over social media about her shock at getting our bill which was agreed prior to any work undertaken. At this point we offered her a payment plan, but she wouldn’t respond to anything.
“As a small family business, we had no choice but to go to the small claims court. We are incredibly shocked with the way Katie Cutler has belittled our hard work and devotion to the project.”
Mr Barnes said he was willing to donate £10 to Ms Cutler to help her pay the £6,687 legal bill and suggested someone set up a fund to help her.
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