Twisted mother Karen Matthews was eventually jailed for her part in the evil plot to fake her own daughter Shannon’s kidnap in an attempt to claim a £50,000 reward
Karen Matthews has broken cover following the broadcast of a bombshell new TV show about her crime.
It is unclear if the 48-year-old has watched the Prime Video documentary, which includes damning new testimony about how she helped fake her daughter Shannon’s kidnap in a bid to claim a £50,000 reward. But in contrast to when she made a number of brazen public appeals for information about her whereabouts despite knowing where she was all along, Karen refused to comment on the two-part programme when approached by the Mirror on Friday.
The kidnapper, who had earlier been seen heading into town pulling a shopping trolley, now lives in the south of England with her boyfriend Paul Saunders, a convicted child sex offender.
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In the new show, Matthews’ former pal Petra Jamieson told how Matthews callously exploited friends and neighbours while the search, the biggest missing person’s investigation ever undertaken by West Yorkshire Police, was being conducted in 2008. Recalling a visit to a local takeaway with Matthews during the hunt, she told ‘The Hunt for Shannon Matthews’: “She got fish and chips for the family.
“The person behind the counter says, ‘They are on us. We’re really sorry what’s going with your daughter.’ She [Karen] looked at me and just said she should ‘get rid of one of my kids more often’.”
She adds: “At the time, I just slapped her on the side of the arm? ‘Why would you say that?'”. In the Prime Video documentary local journalist Richard Edwards also recalls visiting Matthews’ home to speak to her about the search for her daughter. Laughing, Karen jumped out from behind the living room door, as if she were playing hide and seek.
Matthews was dubbed Britain’s worst mum after the plot was exposed, provoking significant public anger. Hundreds of concerned neighbours had joined the 24-day search for Shannon, then aged nine, in Dewsbury, West Yorks, before she was found tied up and drugged in the base of a double bed at Michael Donovan’s flat.
Matthews was in a relationship with Donovan’s nephew Craig Meehan at the time and she and Donovan devised the plot to claim the £50,000 reward for finding Shannon. During his arrest, Donovan, who died from cancer in April 2024, aged 54, had shouted: “Get Karen down here! We’d got a plan. We’re sharing the money – £50,000!”.
Shannon, who is now aged 27, was one of seven children Karen had by five different men. She was placed in emergency social services care and later given a new identity.
Tests on strands of her hair showed she may have been drugged with sedatives for up to 20 months before being kidnapped. An elastic strap with a noose on the end was found at the flat, which it is thought may have been used as a sickening type of restraint for Shannon.
With it tied around her waist, she would have been able to use the toilet and turn on the TV. But it was too short to allow her to go outside the building.
Matthews, who had previously touched the nation’s hearts with her public pleas for the return of her “beautiful princess daughter”, eventually confessed and admitted she had been lying to everyone. She later retracted her confession and eventually told police no fewer than five different versions of events.
But both she and Donovan were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to eight years behind bars. Matthews was released in 2012.