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Mother 'drugged Shannon and tied her to a roof beam'
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent12 Nov 2008
THE mother of Shannon Matthews kept her daughter tied and drugged in hiding to claim a £50,000 reward for her safe return, a court heard today.
Karen Matthews and Michael Donovan, Shannon's step-uncle, concocted “a plan as dishonest as it was wicked”, the jury was told.
They kept nine-year-old Shannon captive for 24 days in Donovan's flat and stood by watching the frantic police and public search for the child.
Shannon was tied by a strap knotted to a roof beam when Donovan left the flat. Police also found a written set of rules for the child during her captivity.
Matthews made impassioned pleas on TV and lied to the police while Donovan kept news cuttings about the hunt. They planned to release Shannon in Dewsbury Market where Donovan would “discover” her so that the couple could claim the reward offered by the media, said Mr Julian Goose QC, prosecuting.
But police raided the flat and found the child in the base of the bed, the court heard on the first day of the case.
Shannon's disappearance in February this year led to one of the biggest missing child searches ever mounted by West Yorkshire Police. Her mother claimed she had failed to return home from school.
But Mr Goose told Leeds crown court: “She was kidnapped and falsely imprisoned in the flat where Donovan lived and was also drugged to subdue her.”
Apart from Shannon the innocent victims were friends and neighbours on the Dewsbury Moor estate in West Yorkshire, police and emergency services and the public, who followed the seemingly tragic events through the TV and newspapers.
The court heard police discovered a strap in the loft of Donovan's flat which dropped through a hatch.
“It had a large loop at the end which would reach around most of the inside of the flat but not permit anyone restrained by it from leaving through the front door.”
The jury watched a collection of CCTV footage of Donovan driving around shopping for drugs he gave Shannon. She was drugged with the tranquilliser temazepam and a travel sickness pill, the court heard.
Police also found a document laying down rules for Shannon. It said: “You must not make any noise or bang your feet.You must not go near the windows, get anything or do anything without me being here, keep the television volume low and you can play the Super Mario games and some DVD games and play some CD music.”
Earlier the jury saw a collection of TV interviews Matthews made during the hunt for her daughter. She would hold Shannon's favourite teddy bear and appeal for her safe return. Away from the TV cameras she behaved very differently, the court heard.
Her friend Natalie Brown said she thought the allegedly grieving mum was “acting”.
Mr Goose told of the dramatic moment police discovered the nine-year-old. Neighbours told them that they had heard footsteps of a small child inside the flat.
“Police forced entry and heard the sound of a little girl's voice from within the base of the double bed,” said Mr Goose. “The police found Shannon inside. She was heard to say stop it, stop it, you're frightening me' before she was recovered. Found in the other half of the divan bed base was Donovan.”
Matthews, 33, of Dewsbury, and Donovan, 40, of Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnap, false imprisonment and doing acts intended to pervert the course of justice. The case continues.
