LONDON – The mother of a British schoolgirl Shannon Matthews, whose 24-day disappearance prompted an extensive police hunt, was convicted yesterday of kidnapping her daughter to win a newspaper reward.
Karen Matthews (33) was condemned yesterday as “pure evil” and told she faces a substantial jail sentence for the kidnap. Matthews conspired with her partner’s uncle Michael Donovan (40) to keep her nine-year-old daughter drugged and imprisoned for 24 days in a desperate plan to claim £50,000 in reward money.
Det Supt Andy Brennan, the officer who led the investigation, said Matthews had “totally betrayed” her daughter and that her motivation for kidnapping her was purely financial. He condemned her as “pure evil” and said the “manipulative” woman started deceiving those closest to her from the very moment the youngster was kidnapped on February 19th last. “It’s difficult to understand what type of mother would subject her own daughter to such a wicked and evil crime,” he added.
The detective was speaking after Matthews and Donovan were found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of the kidnap and false imprisonment of Shannon and perverting the course of justice. The pair showed no emotion as the jury of seven men and five women took six hours to unanimously convict them following a three-week trial. They will be sentenced at a date to be fixed. Mr Justice McCombe warned them they faced a “substantial custodial sentence”.
Shannon, now 10, went missing on February 19th as she walked home from school. West Yorkshire police launched a massive search operation costing almost £3.2 million – one of the largest ever conducted by the force.
On March 14th Shannon was discovered in the base of a divan bed in Donovan’s flat in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, less than a mile away from her home in Dewsbury Moor. It was revealed that Donovan had picked the youngster up in his car and kept her imprisoned in his flat 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 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 little 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 also forced Shannon to keep to a strict list of rules, including keeping quiet and not going near the windows, which was found by police in the flat.
Officers also discovered an elasticated strap in the loft of the property which was believed to have been used to tether Shannon when Donovan went out.
Matthews told five different 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 didn’t comply with her plan.
It emerged in court Donovan abducted one of his own daughters after he became involved in a custody battle with his former wife. He took the girl to Blackpool but when the case came to court the matter was dropped.
Outside court friends and neighbours of Matthews gathered. Petra Jamieson said she was shocked that Matthews showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered. “She didn’t seem bothered. All us lot have been here all the way through it, but she didn’t seem to give a s**t. I don’t think it has hit home yet. Maybe it will when she comes to be sentenced.”