A Place in the Sun presenter Laura Hamilton has called out scammers using her late co-star’s identity as an online con.
Irwin died on February 2, aged 50, after being diagnosed with cancer, leaving behind his wife Jess and three young children.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Escape to the Country pays tribute to Jonnie Irwin.
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Hamilton and Irwin worked together for 18 years, most notably on the property show A Place in the Sun that ran on Channel 4 in the UK.
Honouring her late friend, Hamilton ran the London Marathon in April for the WellChild charity.
“I raised five-and-a-half grand for them, but after I ran the marathon there were people saying, ‘Do you know there are people setting up scam pages saying, I’m still fundraising for the marathon and still trying to get donations?’,” she told The Sun.
“They weren’t legitimately for the charity and that just makes me feel sick, that people were willing to do that when I was running.
“I had an official Just Giving page and then there are scammers that are sucking people in, saying, ‘Oh yeah, we’re still trying to fundraise’ and that is so terrible.”
Irwin began on A Place in the Sun in 2004 while Hamilton joined the lifestyle show in 2012.
Irwin revealed in late 2022 that he had cancer, prompting an outpouring of love from fans around the world.
But he was actually diagnosed in 2020, with lung cancer which spread to his brain.
“I don’t know how long I have left,” Irwin told Hello magazine in 2022.
The presenter said he had shifted his mentality from assuming he would not be well enough for certain milestones to instead setting “little markers” of moments he wanted to be around for.
“I got into the habit of saying: ‘Don’t plan ahead because I might not be well enough’,” he told the publication.
“But now I want to make plans.
“I want to make memories and capture these moments with my family because the reality is, my boys are going to grow up not knowing their dad, and that breaks my heart.”
