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(From left: Craig Meehan. Middle: Karen Matthews. Right: Michael Donovan. Picture credits: The Guardian, BBC)
*Please be aware that I will be talking about disturbing issues in this post to do with child abuse and abduction. As always I will try to be as sensitive as I can be with the facts without taking away from the facts of the case*
This was a case that didn't just shock and outrage the small town of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire (England), the whole of the UK were incensed by this whole twisted nightmare that left your head spinning. Not long after the shocking Madeleine Mcann case was brought to our attention (the sad case of the young child who mysteriously vanished whilst on a holiday with her family...that's a whole huge case in itself which often brings up strong emotions to this very day as well as very tense debates as to what really happened to Madeleine but for this post, the focus is on the Shannon Matthews story), back home in England we had what appeared to be a shocking abduction on English soil.
The location for this heartbreaking situation was a working class area known as 'Dewsbury Moor' in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. The area had seen better days and like a lot of towns in the UK with the shut down of a lot of local industries, unemployment and crime was rife but the people who lived there did their best to get by. On the 19th of February 2008 the police received a strange phone call from a woman claiming that her daughter had failed to return home from school. Karen Matthews (32) was on the phone telling the operator that her nine year old daughter was missing, her voice sounded strained but there was something to it, almost like she was putting it on a bit. Anyway, the police took the matter very seriously and to their credit they were on the scene in a flash. Everything moved so quickly and then the media were camped up outside of Karen's house where she lived with her younger boyfriend, Craig Meehan (22) and her children.
Karen, despite her frumpy style, unkempt hair and huge bags under her eyes (looked a lot older than her 32 years) never seemed to have much trouble in the boyfriend department although they didn't hang around for very long. She had various children by different fathers and her home was like a 'mad house' according to locals. Despite having young children in the house, Karen and Craig would often have various friends around at the weekends and sometimes on week nights too, drinking, playing loud music, their home seemed to be the local hang-out place for some of the locals. Karen came from a big family and Craig was well known in the area too. Despite the lack of opportunities in the area and the levels of crime, the community was quite close-knit and everyone knew everyone so when it was announced that Shannon was missing, everyone stepped up to support Karen and Craig.
There was a lot of drama at the time because a lot of people from the area felt like the press were trashing them in the newspapers because they were working class. When Madeleine Mcann was reported missing, her parents, who were financially stable Doctors, were treated in a respectful manner and given money and all kinds of support. People noticed a class difference and voiced their concerns.
In the time that followed from Shannon being reported missing, the police and the country went from feeling sympathy for Karen to suspicion to utter hatred by the time the case had come to an earth shattering conclusion.
This case was taken very seriously and it was (to this date in December 2024) known as the second most highly investigated case in West Yorkshire Police's history, right next to the horrific serial killer case of Peter Sutcliffe (The Yorkshire Ripper). Hundreds of police officers were on the case, hours and hours of overtime, hours of searches, endless streams of tax payers money as well as other donations was poured into the search for Shannon. Local volunteers gave up their free time to spend time walking for hours and miles on foot looking for any clues as to where this little girl might be. Posters were everywhere, t-shirts were printed and worn by all of the locals including Karen and Craig. There was no stone left unturned in the search for Shannon.
(Karen Matthews. Picture credit: The Sun)
As the hours turned into days, the news, media and general public were glued to the Matthews story. I remember watching everything unfold on TV and seeing the information posters everywhere, even in supermarket bathrooms. We all hoped and prayed that Shannon would be found safe and well but as time went on we all felt a terrible feeling inside and there was something else that bothered everyone too...Karen's behaviour, there was just something about her that you couldn't put your finger on. Then stories started to spread like wildfire, because the story had been heavily reported on by the newspapers and media, Karen and Craig were treated a bit like celebrities. Just like the disgraceful Philpott parents's Mick and Mairead (who had started a fire in their own house on purpose which resulted in their children's deaths), Karen and Craig were lapping up the attention as well as the 'freebies' that the heartbreaking situation brought. As well as free pizzas, alcohol, clothes etc (by the way, they were still having parties at their house with all of this going on), a trip to the local supermarket was like an episode of 'Supermarket Sweep'. Just like the Philpotts, Karen and Craig were told to fill up a shopping cart with whatever essentials they needed so they took advantage and were back and forth to the supermarket stocking up on everything and eating like Kings and Queens. Such actions left a sour taste in people's mouths especially the police who were growing increasingly concerned by Karen's lack of anxiety towards the fact that her daughter was actually supposed to be missing.
As I mentioned earlier, the sympathy quickly started to run out because Karen and Craig were such terrible actors and just couldn't help letting their masks slip. Watching the pair of them on the TV you had to remind yourself that Shannon was actually missing because they didn't act like it. There was even a segment on the news where they persuaded Karen to make an appeal for information. Well, there was no chance of an Oscar in Karen's future because it was just terrible, she held up a cuddly toy (which wasn't even Shannon's) and in between various words she would do a few sniffles and tried her best to cry. All I can remember is her saying ''Come home, my beautiful princess daughter, please come home'' or words to that effect. Normally in these types of tragic situations, your heart goes out to a parent who's pleading for their child to return home but something was really odd here.
Reporters started knocking on all the doors in the area looking for gossip and juicy stories about Craig and Karen in return for cash. Of course their so-called friends and family members lapped this up and then all of these stories came out that Craig had been violent towards Shannon in the past which he denied. It just wasn't looking good for the pair of them. Lucky for Karen she had a very good friend who (for some reason) stood by her even though she had suspicions herself. Karen's friend Julie was a major factor in this case because she was the one who finally got Karen to tell the truth.
(Craig Meehan. Picture credit: The Sun)
Night after night we all watched the news hoping for a positive update on Shannon, we found out that Shannon had been through a lot in her young life, despite being part of a large family, she was quite isolated and would always be in her room. She was a very quiet and lonely child who was often bullied at school. She'd reportedly written on her bedroom wall that she wanted to go and live with her biological father, Leon Rose.
Suspicion towards Karen and Craig continued to grown until out of nowhere a news report flashed across television screens across West Yorkshire and beyond on the 7th of March 2008, Shannon had been found!!! She was alive and well, it was incredible!!! All of us who had been following the case were overjoyed and for myself I began to think that I had made a mistake in judging Karen because here Shannon was, alive and well and all set to be returned to her family......or was she?
Tongues started to wag when it appeared that Shannon wasn't being returned home, people were puzzled. in the midst of the excitement and celebration everyone noticed that Karen didn't appear to be smiling that much. Once the dust had settled and the realisation that Shannon was ok, the questions began of where the hell was she all that time? The police were keeping quiet in the beginning but there was a very strange and uncomfortable feeling in the air.
It was reported that she had been found at a relative's house which left everyone confused but as more details began to emerge everyone was left feeling sick to their stomachs. The truth of the matter was, Karen had been watching the whole Madeleine Mcann case on TV a year earlier and saw all of the money and attention the McCann family were getting, she came up with a plan with Craig's Uncle, a man named Michael Donovan (who was also a p**dophile) that he take Shannon for a while and they pretend that she'd been abducted so that they could spilt any reward money. The plan was that Michael was going to pretend to be the one who found Shannon. At the time of Shannon's disappearance a reward that was raised totalled £50,000. The plan backfired when a neighbour contacted authorities because they'd heard strange noises coming from his flat even though he lived alone and the noises were happening when he was out of the house.
More disturbing details of what Shannon actually went through in Michael's flat emerged. He had drugged her with various pills and tied her up with a length of rope where she could only reach the bathroom. He would also keep her hidden under a bed. I'm sure you'd agree with me that we don't even want to know what else this poor child went through having being trapped for 24 days with a p**dophile. Karen knew about his history with children, apparently in her own family she was related to 17 p**dophiles and didn't seem to have any issues with having these things around her vulnerable children.
(Michael Donovan. Picture credit: The Sun)
In the safe hands of the authorities, Shannon had a serious of medical tests and psychological tests done. They had found that she had been given various substances for longer than the 24 days, Doctors claimed that Shannon had been given various drugs for at least a period of two years before her abduction. More questions were raised why this poor girl was given a constant cocktail of drugs, what had been going on in that house, the house that she lived in with her mother? Were the other kids fed drugs too? The whole situation was horrendous and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the police who had been searching through Karen's house, had been examining Craig's personal computer and found tons of horrific child abuse pictures that were some of the worst that they had ever seen.
It appeared that poor Shannon as well as her siblings, were surrounded by utter filth from start to finish. Their mother was a horrendous woman who knew that she was putting her children at risk and who knows exactly what happened to these poor children.
When the police turned up at Michael Donovan's flat and found Shannon and the circumstances in which she was being held, they couldn't believe their eyes. Michael wasted no time in spilling the beans to the police about Karen's part in the whole thing. Craig claimed that he knew nothing about the plot even though it was his uncle who's flat that Shannon was being drugged and held in. Craig had enough problems of his own since he was outed as a disgusting p**dophile himself. At the station before the whole thing erupted, Karen was brought to the station to confirm that the little girl found in Michael Donovan's flat was indeed Shannon, for a mother who was supposed to be beside herself with worry, she just stood there and confirmed that the girl was indeed Shannon and that was that. She didn't seem to care because she knew all along that Shannon was alive, she knew where she was the whole time. The whole thing had been a sick performance with Shannon being put through hell for the sake of money.
Everyone in the community (even though many had their suspicions) were horrified when they found out the full details of what had actually been going on. Karen, Craig and Michael were now in police custody and Shannon was in care of the authorities with the rest of Karen's children being placed elsewhere. It was clear that she wouldn't be seeing Shannon again or the rest of her children for a very long time. As for her and Craig's relationship? As a last ditch attempt at trying to put on a pathetic display of human decency she claimed that she had dumped Craig and had no idea that he had all of that disgusting material on his computer.
On the 4th of December 2008 both Michael Donovan and Karen Matthews were found guilty of kidnap and false imprisonment. Both were sentenced to eight years in prison. Karen has since been released and Michael died a few years ago of cancer in hospital.
Craig Meehan was sentenced in September of 2008 for only 20 weeks for having child abuse images on his computer. He was never charged as being part of the kidnap plot. Since his release from his short stint in prison, he has reportedly moved house about eight times. He's tried to change his appearance and doesn't wear the glasses or baseball caps but people still recognise him. Every time local residents find out that he's in their town, authorities move him to another location. It's actually shocking to learn that he was back living in Dewsbury close to a school, again he was spotted by the locals and moved elsewhere. His location as of 2024 is unknown, he's probably in Scotland or something but that just me speculating. He seems to have been moved all over the place in West Yorkshire and keeps being recognised so authorities may have decided just to move him out of the country. Isn't it ridiculous that we have struggling families in this country and homeless people who don't have a place to live but scum like Craig Meehan are chauffeured from place to place, they always seem to find homes for these individuals.
(Shannon Matthews. Picture credit: The Sun)
Karen has never shown remorse for what she did to her own daughter, in her mind, Shannon was not murdered and her plan was never to have Shannon murdered so it can't be that bad. She is unbelievable and will forever be known as one of Britain's worst mothers. In my opinion the three of them got off lightly, Shannon has to live for the rest of her life with the horrible memories of what they did. She will be aware of what happened and the utter betrayal of her own mother. Shannon (if that is still her name, I imagine maybe her name was changed?) started a new life with a new family after she was well enough to leave care. She continued to receive regular counselling sessions for years as she suffered terribly with nightmares. I hope that she was able to move on in some way with her life and I hope she is out there somewhere feeling loved and happy. We all want the best for her and respect her privacy. As for the rest of Karen's children, I have no idea what happened to them. We can only hope that they moved on to better things too. I have no idea if Karen is in touch with any of her children but I do know that her friend Julie still remained in contact with her during her time in prison and beyond.
Some people may not understand how Julie could remain friends with such a person but from what I have seen of Julie in her interviews, she comes across as a warm, almost counsellor type individual. She's willing to look past what Karen has done and think's that Karen is just mentally ill. Whatever the story is between Karen and Julie that's their business but I don't think the majority of people could ever give Karen Matthews the time of day. There are some things in life that just cannot be forgiven.
Further Reading & Sources:
If you have made it this far in the post, I thank you so much and appreciate your time. I realise that this is my last post of 2024. I'm taking a break over the Christmas holidays (give my brain and fingers a rest lol) and indulging in all things food, music, movies, close friends/family and fun. It's important not just for myself but for you too, to kick back sometimes and treat yourself to some proper relaxation and as well as celebrating and being thankful for what we have, giving to our loved ones and thinking about the deeper meaning of Christmas which I always do. My grandmother passed away on the 18th of December many years ago so it's a very personal date for me and I always light a candle. I don't look at this time of year as doom and gloom, i love it because my grandmother loved Christmas so much, she would decorate her house and make Christmas dinner, she would make a huge deal every year. I celebrate her life even more at Christmas and I have carried on a lot of her Christmas traditions in tribute to her.
I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas, if you celebrate and if you don't well all the best for 2025 anyway. Here's to the start of a New Year and new beginnings.
I will see you in the next post....in 2025 x
