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Shannon pair jailed for eight years for 'despicable' kidnap plot
KAREN Matthews has been jailed for eight years for kidnapping her daughter Shannon in a plot to get thousands of pounds in reward money.
Her co-conspirator Michael Donovan, the uncle of her former boyfriend, was given the same term for taking the nine-year-old and holding her prisoner in his flat.
Karen Matthews: Her life and times
The pair were convicted last month of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice after a three-week trial.
Sentencing them at Leeds Crown Court, judge Mr Justice McCombe said their crimes were "truly despicable" but raised doubts they could have planned the scheme by themselves.
"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," he told them.
"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.
"It is also incomprehensible that you could stand by and watch enormous police resources being wasted, in an earnest and distressing search which many officers would have thought could only lead to a tragic discovery.
"You must have realised that large sums of public money were being expended and wasted in these efforts and that valuable police time was being diverted from the investigation of other crimes.
"You may not, however, have realised the distress that you would cause to innocent people who may have come under police suspicion of having kidnapped Shannon."
He added he would not draw a distinction between the two of them in their sentences.
"In my judgment, their culpability is the same," he told the court.
"In saying that, having regard to their low intellect, as emerged in evidence at trial and in the pre-sentence reports, it must be doubtful whether they could have conceived or continued these offences without the assistance or connivance of others.
"The pre-sentence report in Matthews' case comments that neither defendant seems to have the cognitive ability to devise and orchestrate such an elaborate offence with any degree of likelihood of success."
Mr Justice McCombe added: "It is argued for both that they were not of sufficient intelligence to conceive and implement this plan without the involvement of others."
He had earlier heard lawyers involved in the case, who had combined experience of more than 100 years, admit they had never known anything like it.
Frances Oldham, QC, for Matthews, claimed her client was no 'Myra Hindley or Rose West' and was a young mum of low intelligence who lost control of a "botched attempt to raise money by hiding the daughter who was safe at all times with someone she knew".
She insisted the 33-year-old was an 'innocent' who showered love on her children and had been 'profoundly affected' by her conviction.
"Whatever Karen Matthews is she is not, I quote, 'pure evil'," Ms Oldham told the court.
"She is not one of those who do horrendous things to the victims of their offences.
"It has affected each and every day of her life in prison. She has effectively been kept in isolation. She is under physical threat. As a result of that she has been profoundly affected.
"She receives no visits from her lawyers and has been effectively ostracised by everyone."
Shannon, now 10, went missing on February 19 last year after setting out to walk the short distance home from her school in Dewsbury Moor.
West Yorkshire Police launched a massive search operation costing almost 3.2 million - one of the largest conducted by the force.
On March 14, the schoolgirl was discovered in the base of a divan bed in Donovan's flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, less than a mile away from her home.
It was revealed Donovan, 40, kept her imprisoned as part of a plan he and Matthews hatched to claim a 50,000 reward offered by a national newspaper.
Traces of drugs were found in the schoolgirl's system and experts revealed she may have been drugged for up to two years.
A long length of strapping was found in Donovan's loft, which led officers to believe Shannon was restrained while kept prisoner.
Police believe Donovan and Matthews may have been influenced by the coverage of Madeleine McCann's disappearance, which was a high-profile news story in the months before Shannon went missing.
Ms Oldham told the court officers had interviewed the youngster for nearly seven hours over five days.
"She spoke of contact during the time she was with Michael Donovan at his flat with other family members," she said.
"My lord may come to the conclusion that others are involved and did not face the jury."
Alan Conrad, QC, for Donovan, said his client was "plainly incapable of organising a plan such as this" on his own and there was evidence he was chosen to do what he did because of his low intelligence.
Both lawyers also argued that although the schoolgirl had been drugged while kept imprisoned in Donovan's flat, she had been well cared for and kept safe.
But the judge said although Shannon was not physically harmed, her experience must have been "highly disturbing".
He referred to a report on her recovery which stated she suffered nightmares and was "disturbed and traumatised and frightened".
"It is clear as a matter of common sense that it must have been highly disturbing to a nine-year-old child to be removed suddenly from her normal environment, her school, her siblings and her friends, without knowing when, if at all, she would be returned."
Speaking after the case, Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan said: "The sentence fairly reflects the nature of the offences committed by Matthews and Donovan. It should serve as a deterrent to anyone else considering doing anything so reckless and underline what the consequences will be."
Chief Inspector Ian Gayles who covers Neighbourhood Policing in Kirklees thanked the community of Dewsbury Moor for their assistance.
He added: "People have come together in an unprecedented way whilst under the national spotlight and I would like to commend them for the way in which they have conducted themselves.
"We should not forget that the ultimate goal of finding Shannon alive was achieved and this was only achieved with the co-operation of local residents."
Matthews and Donovan were each handed concurrent sentences of six years and three years for kidnapping and false imprisonment.
They were given an additional two-year sentence, to be served consecutively, for perverting the course of justice.
The pair were told they would serve half of their total sentences before being released on licence and that the time they spent on remand would count towards their time in jail.
Full coverage in Saturday's Yorkshire Post
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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