Morning:
8°c
'Like your ringtone' - Karen Matthew's only comment after police found her daughter
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent13 Nov 2008
SHANNON MATTHEWS'S mother only comment to police after being told her missing daughter had been found was to remark on the mobile ringtone of one of the police officers, a court heard today.
Karen Matthews never asked detectives where her nine-year-old daughter had been found nor what condition Shannon was in. Instead, her only reaction when told the little girl had been found after being missing for 24 days was to hug her then boyfriend Craig Meehan.
After police broke the news that Shannon had been found alive and well they drove Matthews to Dewsbury police station to make a formal identification.
It was during the 30-minute journey that she made her only remark - described as a "glib comment"- that she liked the ringtone of an escorting officer's mobile phone.
Dc Mark Cruddace was giving evidence today on the second day of the trial at Leeds crown court.
He told the jury that when he arrived at Matthews's home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, to tell her the news that Shannon was safe, he suspected she might already have known.
"When I walked into the house I had a feeling that people there knew, there was a buzz of excitement in the house," he told the jury.
"I explained that it was believed a little girl fitting Shannon's description had been found and I wanted Karen Matthews to go to the police station to identify her. She immediately turned to Craig Meehan and they hugged each other.
"She didn't ask how Shannon had been found nor where she had been found. It took about a half-hour to get to the police station but Matthews never asked where her daughter had been found nor how it had finally happened. She didn't ask how Shannon was or anything about her welfare.
"There was a bit of a strange incident when my colleague's phone rang and she just commented that she liked the ringtone. It was like a glib comment."
Asked by Julian Goose QC, prosecuting, whether Matthews was "happy, delighted or elated", the officer said he couldn't comment on her mood.
When she arrived at Dewsbury police station she was taken to the ID suite to see her daughter. "When she saw Shannon her eyes appeared to fill and she placed her hands to her face," he said.
Earlier the officer told how Matthews had told police when the hunt for Shannon was at its height that a clairvoyant had told her where her daughter was. The police had to go to the address to eliminate it from their inquiries, the court. The jury has heard how Matthews concocted a campaign of lies and deceit to mislead the police in the 24 days after she had reported Shannon missing.
The little girl was found by police under a bed in a flat owned by Michael Donovan, who was the uncle of Matthews's then boyfriend. Matthews and Donovan are said to have deliberately kept Shannon in hiding and drugged and tied her up to claim a £50,000 reward for her safe return. During the police hunt Matthews wore a T-shirt printed and distributed by neighbours bearing the slogan "Have you seen Shannon Matthews?". She was also given vouchers for shopping by the Salvation Army.
Matthews, 33, and Donovan, 40, both from Dewsbury, have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnap, false imprisonment and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The case continues.
