Daughter Drugged By Own Mother In Plot To Have Her Kidnapped For Money

The tale Shannon Matthews has been widely reported on Digital Journal, yet as the long case continues with regard to the prosecution of her own family, the BBC have now learned of how Shannon was drugged months before the kidnap plot was hatched.

Tragically, the story of a child being kidnapped for one reason or another appears to be common nowadays yet the tale of the nine-year-old Shannon Matthews was one which turned the tables on how the darker side of the human mind can reveal itself. With this case, the gain had been financial, and what better to gain a large amount of money very quickly than to have your child allegedly kidnapped and the country feel pity for you. A sick mind could only come up with this one, and for little 9-year-old Shannon, it was her mother. Yet it didn't stop there - the BBC now learn that Karen Matthews, the shamed mother, had been drugging Shannon with a sedative 20 months before the kidnapping took place and the money came rolling in... Shannon had been given the drug temazepam on a regular basis by her mother in "preparation" for the kidnap, a court has heard this week. Experts had found traces of the drug in her hair meaning that the drug had been given to her over a length of time. In the meantime, mother Karen Matthews, 33, of Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, and Michael Donovan, 40, deny kidnapping and false imprisonment. Yet the court was told that the reason why Shannon had been found hiding in the bed of Mr Donovan, was because "they wanted him to look after Shannon while she left her partner..." according to a witness. Apparently she had been arguing a lot with her partner, Craig Meehan. Yet stories hadn't matched up. Karen had told a completely different story to the police when she was initially interviewed before her arrest. She said "Mr Donovan took her daughter because she turned down an offer he made to let her and her children stay with him last December..." She said to the police,

"That's the reason he's done this. I could have protected her from him. I never thought he [Mr Donovan] was like that. What he's done had shocked us all."

When asked by the police if Karen knew where he daughter was all along, she said she did not, yet she did and the plot was uncovered. Family liaison officer for the police, Mrs Freeman, had said that when two friends had asked her if she had arranged for Mr Donovan to take Shannon, Freeman told the court,

Karen took the biggest intake of breath that I've ever heard in my life and said, 'Yes, that's right'. She said that she'd planned to leave Craig and she'd asked for Mike to take Shannon and she'd packed her bag intending to leave but then she'd ended up having to report Shannon missing to cover her back.

Friends of Karen and witnesses, Natalie Brown and Julie Bushby were asked to describe the conversation where the statements were made by Karen... this is how the BBC website retold the story....

"Shannon Matthews disappeared for 24 days in February

Mrs Brown said: "She was in floods of tears, shaking, really scared."

She said Ms Matthews told them: "People will hate me for what I've done and I've disgraced the kids."

Mrs Bushby told the jury: "She said she's packed her bags ready to leave him and couldn't go through with it.

"She was crying, sobbing really. She was blaming everybody else but herself."

The case continues....