The mother of Shannon Matthews was jailed for eight years today for her role in the kidnap of her own daughter.
Karen Matthews (33), of Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after being found guilty last month of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
Her former partner’s uncle, Michael Donovan (40), was convicted of the same offences and was also jailed today for eight years.
Nine-year-old Shannon was found in Donovan’s flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, 24 days after she went missing in February last year.
Shannon went missing on February 19th last year as she walked home from school near her home in Dewsbury Moor.
Police undertook a massive search operation costing almost £3.2 million. On March 14th, Shannon was discovered in the base of a divan bed in Donovan’s flat less than a mile away from her home.
It was revealed that Donovan kept her imprisoned as part of a plan he and Matthews hatched to claim a £50,000 reward offered by a national newspaper.
Police believe the pair may have been influenced by the coverage of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, which was a high-profile news story in the months before Shannon went missing.
After she was recovered, Shannon was found to have traces of the “potent hypnotic” drug temazepam and travel sickness medication melcozine in her system.
It was believed that both Matthews and Donovan gave the girl the drugs in an attempt to keep her subdued and drowsy and that she could have taken them for up to 20 months before her abduction.
Donovan forced Shannon to keep to a strict list of rules, and officers discovered an elasticated strap in the loft of his flat, which was believed to have been used to tether the young girl when Donovan went out.
Matthews told five versions of what happened to Shannon, ranging from being a distraught mother whose daughter had gone missing to blaming the crime on her former partner Craig Meehan and other members of his family.
Donovan, who has convictions for arson, shoplifting and criminal damage, claimed he was terrified of Matthews and said he was threatened that he would be killed if he did not comply with her plan.
It emerged in court that Donovan abducted one of his own daughters after he became involved in a custody battle with his former wife.
The judge, Mr Justice McCombe, said: “The offences that you committed were truly despicable. It is impossible to conceive how you could have found it in you to put this young girl through the ordeal that you inflicted upon her.
“It is incomprehensible that you could have permitted your friends, neighbours and in your case, Matthews, even your children to sacrifice time and energy in extensive searches for the supposedly missing child.”
Last month, Det Supt Andy Brennan, the officer who led the investigation, said Matthews had “totally betrayed” her daughter and condemned her as “pure evil”.
Following the trial, Kirklees social services announced an independent serious case review into the dealings agencies had with the family of Shannon.
PA