Britain’s worst mother Karen Matthews smokes a cigarette with her paedophile boyfriend on 15th anniversary of bungled bid to claim £50,000 by staging kidnap of daughter Shannon
- Karen Matthews, 47, notoriously used her daughter to try and steal £50,000
Standing outside a supermarket smoking a cigarette, one of the country’s most notorious criminals is now living in quiet anonymity.
Karen Matthews, 47, became a household name exactly 15 years ago when her nine-year-old daughter Shannon went missing and a massive police investigation was launched to find her.
The tearful mother of seven made TV appeals pleading with the kidnapper to set her daughter free. But it was all an evil scam.
Matthews knew all along where the schoolgirl was and who was keeping her prisoner.
Shannon was found by police after 24 days, hidden in the base of a divan bed in a flat in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Karen Matthews, 47, became a household name exactly 15 years ago when her nine-year-old daughter Shannon went missing and a massive police investigation was launched to find her.
She was pictured recently on a shopping run with her boyfriend Paul Saunders, 60, who is himself a convicted paedophile
The crime had been a plot between Matthews and Michael Donovan, the uncle of her then boyfriend, to claim £50,000 of reward money.
Both were jailed for eight years and Matthews – convicted of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice – was labelled ‘Britain’s worst mother’.
After finishing her sentence, Matthews dyed her hair black and moved to the south of England.
She no longer has any contact with Shannon or her six other children. Matthews also reportedly found God in 2020, went on a health kick and lost weight.
She was pictured recently on a shopping run with her boyfriend Paul Saunders, 60, who is himself a convicted paedophile.
The tearful mother-of-seven made TV appeals pleading with the kidnapper to set her daughter free. But it was all an evil scam
Matthews knew all along where the schoolgirl was and who was keeping her prisoner
Saunders was jailed for five years at Oxford Crown Court in 2010 for sexual activity with a child and sexual assault. He must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
However, it seems the pair have established a long-term relationship.
Matthews, whose story has been the subject of a high-profile TV drama and a documentary, still cuts an unmistakable figure.
She has always maintained she wasn’t responsible for Shannon’s kidnap, but it is the crime of February 2008 that she will always be remembered for.
Shannon was found by detectives in Donovan’s flat, around a mile from her home in Dewsbury, 24 days after she disappeared.
Prosecutors said the schoolgirl was drugged and probably kept captive on a leash during her incarceration.
Shannon was raised by a new family under a new identity and is now an adult
Police described Matthews as ‘pure evil’ after she was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
Her then-boyfriend, Craig Meehan, was not involved in the kidnapping plot. However, he was separately convicted of possessing 49 indecent images of children on a home computer.
Matthews and Donovan were both sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2009 and released in 2012 after serving half their sentences.
Shannon was raised by a new family under a new identity and is now an adult.
The crime had been a plot between Matthews and Michael Donovan, the uncle of her then boyfriend, to claim £50,000 of reward money
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