Britain’s worst mother Karen Matthews is spotted boarding bus nearly 14 years to the day since she claimed daughter Shannon had been kidnapped
- Matthews is notorious for faking the kidnap of her daughter Shannon in 2008
- She was jailed for 4 years and released in 2012 with new identity and new home
- Matthews has lost weight, changed her look and has found God since prison
- She no longer has any contact with Shannon or her six other children
A thinner and heavily made-up Karen Matthews has been spotted almost 14 years to the day since she became Britain’s worst mother by kidnapping her own daughter, Shannon, to try to claim a £50,000 reward.
Standing at a bus stop near her home in a southern English town, which cannot be named for legal reasons, Karen looked tanned, has dyed her hair black and continues to lose weight.
The mother-of-seven has drastically changed her appearance since leaving prison in 2012.
Her new image has coincided with a string of boyfriends. One so-called ‘sugar daddy’ reportedly showered her with gifts before they split, she also had a six-week fling with a convicted paedophile and is said to have told friends she wants to have another child since finding God two years ago.
‘Despite the thick coating of make-up and fake tan, it was unmistakably her’, said one witness who saw her boarding the bus.
Tomorrow it will be 14 years since she repulsed the world after it was revealed that she and her ex-boyfriend’s uncle Michael Donovan plotted to stage Shannon’s kidnapping and claim the £50,000 reward.
A fake tanned and thinner Karen Matthews stands at her local bus stop yesterday
Matthews has been allowed to build a new life with a new identity and a new home in a town in the south of England
She was surrounded by people who will have had no idea they were so close to Britain’s most feckless mother
Matthews boards a bus for town almost 14 years to the day since she abducted her daughter
Matthews has had a string of boyfriends including a ‘sugar daddy’ and a convicted paedophile
Matthews, 44, (left) is notorious for faking the kidnap of her nine-year-old daughter Shannon (right this week) in 2008 when she and a former boyfriend hid the youngster inside a bed for 24 days
19 February 2008 Shannon Matthews is last seen outside her school in Dewsbury
20 February Police announce a massive search for the missing girl
21 February 200 volunteers join the local police search party
1 March Shannon’s mother Karen issues an emotional public appeal for the safe return on her daughter
12 March Reward offered for information leading to Shannon’s whereabouts is increased to £50,000
14 March Shannon is found inside the base of a divan base at the home of Michael Donovan in Batley Carr. Over the next few weeks Donovan, along with Shannon’s mother and stepfather, are all charged for separate offences
23 January 2009 Matthews and Donovan are sentenced to eight years each of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice
April 2012: Matthews is released from prison after serving half her sentence. She was given a new taxpayer-funded identity and home. She is banned from seeing Shannon and her other children, who were put in care.
2020: Mother-of-seven Matthews is revealed to be living a new life, under a new name and has turned to God in southern England
Shannon was found 24 days later hidden inside the base of a divan in Donovan’s flat, a mile from Karen’s home, where the little girl had been drugged to keep her quiet and put on an elastic leash to prevent her getting to the front door.
Matthews no longer has any contact with Shannon or her six other children. She was released in 2012 and given a new home and a new identity in the south of England.
Matthews also found God in 2020 and went on a health kick and lost weight, apparently after finding a new boyfriend.
Matthews and her ex-boyfriend’s uncle Michael Donovan were jailed in 2008 for the plot to stage Sharon’s kidnapping and claim the £50,000 reward for ‘finding’ her.
She made a series of tearful TV appeals for help in finding her daughter as West Yorkshire Police launched one of the force’s largest ever searches.
Shannon was eventually found by detectives in Donovan’s flat, around a mile from her home in Dewsbury, 24 days after she disappeared.
Prosecutors said the schoolgirl was drugged and probably kept captive on a leash during her incarceration.
Police described Matthews as ‘pure evil’ after she was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
Her then-boyfriend, Craig Meehan, was not involved in the kidnapping plot.
However, he was separately convicted of possessing 49 indecent images of children on a home computer.
Matthews and her ex-boyfriend’s uncle Michael Donovan were jailed in 2008 for the plot to stage Sharon’s kidnapping and claim the £50,000 reward for ‘finding’ her.
She made a series of tearful TV appeals for help in finding her daughter as West Yorkshire Police launched one of the force’s largest ever searches.
Shannon was eventually found by detectives in Donovan’s flat, around a mile from her home in Dewsbury, 24 days after she disappeared.
Matthews in March 2008 holding her daughter’s favourite teddy bear as she feigned an emotional appeal for her safe return
Matthews (left) and co-conspirator Michael Donovan (right) were both sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2009 and released in 2012 after serving half their sentences
Matthews led from Dewsbury police station before a court appearance over Shannon’s kidnap
Prosecutors said the schoolgirl was drugged and probably kept captive on a leash during her incarceration.
Police described Matthews as ‘pure evil’ after she was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
Her then-boyfriend, Craig Meehan, was not involved in the kidnapping plot.
However, he was separately convicted of possessing 49 indecent images of children on a home computer.
She and Donovan were both sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2009 and released in 2012 after serving half their sentences.
Shannon was raised by a new family under a new identity and is now an adult.
Shannon Matthews was forced to adhere to a strict list of rules, which were signed off with ‘IPU’, which the jury was told stood for ‘I promise you’, a threat Karen used against Shannon
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