SHANNON Matthews’ mum stunned the nation when cops uncovered she had plotted the kidnap of her own daughter.
The evil mother concocted her diabolical plan, with the help of the late Michael Donovan, in February 2008 in the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury.
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She reported her nine-year-old daughter missing and sparked a 24-day search which cost West Yorkshire Police £3.2million and involved hundreds in the local community.
Little Shannon was eventually found in the base of a divan bed at Donovan’s flat.
Donovan was the uncle of Karen Matthews’ then-boyfriend Craig Meehan.
It’s thought the pair devised the fake kidnapping in a bid to claim the £50,000 reward money for eventually “finding” Shannon.
They had planned to release the schoolgirl, “discover her” then take her to a police station and claim the reward before splitting.
Donovan and Matthews were sentenced to eight years in jail each for the kidnapping.
In April 2024, Donovan died from throat cancer.
Meanwhile convicted paedophile Craig Meehan, and Karen’s ex-boyfriend of five years, was never charged in connection with the abduction.
He was however charged and found guilty of possessing child abuse images after detectives seized computer equipment from the house they shared at the time in Dewsbury.
Meehan, then 22, was jailed in 2008 for 20 weeks.
Now in a new documentary, The Hunt for Shannon Matthews | Mother Kidnaps Own Daughter, a former friend of Karen made a shocking claim.
Petra Jamieson revealed a possible motive for the unthinkable plot.
She said: “Did Karen know that Craig [Shannon’s stepdad] had all those images of his computer?
“Maybe she did. Maybe that’s the reason she did what she did. To get Shannon away from him.”
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This comes after police revealed chilling footage of the moment Karen Matthews admitted she lied about Shannon’s disappearance.
She said she didn’t tell police were Shannon was as she was scared “everybody would have a go at [her] for it”.
The mum-of-six’s shocking admission came after Shannon was found drugged and tethered in a relative’s grubby flat.
In the disturbing interview Karen says she phoned police “so nobody would suspect her” after her daughter vanished.
At one point the detective asks Karen if she phones police as “part of an act to make it look like she was missing, when she really knew she wasn’t missing”- and the mum agrees this is what she had done.
When the detective asks why she didn’t tell police where Shannon was when they came to the house, the bleary-eyed mum says: “Because I was in front of everybody and everybody would have had a go at me for it.”
She then tries to backtrack, claiming she “knew Shannon was somewhere, but didn’t know where”.
Matthews previously confessed to her role in the despicable scheme to pal Natalie Brown, another neighbour Julie Bushby and a police officer.
Detective Constable Paul Kettlewell found Shannon hiding under a bed, tied up with a rope and drugged.
As he retraced his footsteps for a BBC documentary, DC Kettlewell said: “When we gained a landing we found a further door that was locked.
“And then I heard Shannon’s voice from within this bedroom. I clearly heard her say ‘stop it you’re frightening me now’.
“Although I knew I’d heard her, I didn’t know where she was. And then I became aware of movement within the bed.
“As I went across to the far side of the bed, Shannon’s head appeared on that side. I reached over, picked Shannon up and carried her out. I couldn’t believe that I’d found her.
“We had Shannon and she was alive, I just couldn’t believe it.”
The policeman added: “I asked her where Mike was. She said: ‘He was where I was.’ I said: ‘In the house?’ And she said: ‘Under the bed.'”
Following the horrific ordeal Shannon was taken off Karen and placed in the care of her local authority after the trial.
She was given a new identity and is now living with a new family.
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