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Shannon Matthews's mother gets eight years
Kiran Randhawa23 Jan 2009
The mother of Shannon Matthews was today jailed for eight years for the schoolgirl's kidnap.
Karen Matthews, 33, showed no emotion as she was led away from the court following sentencing.
The mother-of-seven was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and attempting to pervert the course of justice last month.
Michael Donovan, the uncle of Matthews' former boyfriend who had held the nine-year-old girl for
24 days in his flat, was found guilty of the same charges. He was also sentenced to eight years at Leeds crown court today.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice McCombe told the pair: “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.”
The court heard Shannon, now 10, was left “disturbed and traumatised and frightened” by her ordeal.
Reading from a report, the judge said: “Shannon will need periods of psychotherapy followed by individually-based therapeutic interventions to help her to recover from her experiences.”
Shannon was reported missing on 19 February last year beginning a police hunt which cost the taxpayer £3.2 million. She was abducted by Donovan, 40, on her way home from school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and was to be held until newspaper reward money built up to £50,000.
But on 14 March, Shannon was discovered by police in the base of a divan bed in Donovan's flat in nearby Batley Carr.
Mr Justice McCombe said it was doubtful that jobless Matthews and Donovan could have planned and carried out the kidnap without other people. He added: “It is argued (in a pre-sentence report) for both that they were not of sufficient intelligence to conceive and implement this plan without the involvement of others.”
During her time in captivity Shannon was given a sedative and travel sickness drugs to make her compliant.
A noose-style rope hanging from the loft at Donovan's flat indicated she was tied up to stop her escaping. Frances Oldham, QC, representing Matthews, told the court that she was “no Myra Hindley or Rose West”. Ms Oldham described the kidnap plot as an “inadequate and botched” attempt to raise money and the fact that Shannon was safe at all times put this crime in a “different league” to other cases of kidnap and false imprisonment in which violence was used.
Alan Conrad, QC, for Donovan, said he was not mentally capable of organising such a kidnap plot. 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.
Pair must have had accomplices'
The judge sentencing Karen Matthews clashed with police today over whether there was a wider kidnap plot.
Mr Justice McCombe said it was doubtful Matthews and Donovan could have carried out the kidnap without other people.
He added: “It is argued (in a pre-sentence report) they were not of sufficient intelligence to conceive and implement this plan without the involvement of others.”
But Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan said: “We concluded there was not sufficient evidence to charge anybody else.”
Reader views (8)
ok that's what sharon matthews' mother gets. but what does sharon matthews' mother's mother get? and sharon matthews' mother's mother's mother? and their dogs? and their neighbours? that matters too, you know.
- stephen, United Kingdom, 24/01/2009 23:35
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Hopefully her eight years behind bars as a child abuser will be just as much of a hell-on-earth as her daughters first eight years of life were. Long may she rot in hell.
- Keith, Ipswich UK, 24/01/2009 10:01
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To be honest, I was surprised they both got 8yrs.
- Dave, London, 24/01/2009 08:59
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What the girl needs is a family capable of love and affection, not some shrinks poking around he psyche.
The adults involved? I can think of few things worse than the mistreatment and attempted exploitation of a child. They are messing with the future but they're just too dumb, or too selfish, to understand that. They got off lightly.
- Rogan, Irving, 23/01/2009 16:55
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I thought she'd get about 14 years! Eight years seems extraordinarily light when you consider the amount of Police time wasted. I hope Shannon recovers from the ordeal of having such a poor excuse for a mother.
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx, 23/01/2009 16:40
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they both deserve longer! and she should not have any rights to have access to her other children when she gets out.
- Catherine, Los Angeles, 23/01/2009 15:34
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Its a shame eight years want mean eight years.This evil woman will be out within at least 18 months.Then there will be a book deal then a BBC drama.All most seems worth it for her.I just hope Shannon is being cared for by a good honest foster couple.
- Mick, New York, 23/01/2009 15:26
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I don't fancy her chances in jail very much. I give it a week before someone gives her a hiding.
- Keith, Kings Cross, London, UK, 23/01/2009 14:50
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