Karen Matthews ‘is selling food meant to go to homeless’
KAREN Matthews has been accused of charging homeless people for food that was meant to be given to them for free.
Matthews, 43, who faked her daughter’s kidnap in 2008, is said to visit a branch of Pret A Manger where she takes unsold stock on the understanding that she distributes it to those living on the streets.
But after loading the food on a trolley, she allegedly sells it for profit to the homeless or takes it back to her two-bedroom flat.
Matthews was seen visiting the high street chain twice and leaving with bags of food on a trolley.
‘Karen is shameless – she just doesn’t see that it’s wrong,’ a source told the Sunday Mirror.
‘She says the staff at Pret let her pick up the unsold stock at the end of their shifts on the understanding she takes it to charity. But she has seen a way of lining her pockets.
‘It’s all part of the way she lives her life. Even though she has been in prison she still sees herself as above the homeless people she is scamming because she has a nice flat, a plasma screen TV and a much better existence than them.’ The source said Matthews does not even like Pret A Manger food, but keeps it in her fridge because it makes her look ‘posh’.
When approached, Matthews refused to say whether she sold the donated food for profit and denied getting it from the shop. The Pret Foundation Trust was set up to ease homelessness and distributes unsold food from the stores to local charities.
The store manager said he was unaware of what Matthews was doing. Pret A Manger raised £1.8million for over 40 charities last year.
Matthews was jailed in 2008 for holding her daughter Shannon prisoner in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in a bid to claim a £50,000 reward.
The 24-day police hunt and investigation cost an estimated £3.2million.
She received an eight-year sentence for kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice, serving half the term.
After leaving prison, Matthews was relocated to southern England and has since been pictured working in a charity shop.
She recently collapsed and was taken to hospital fearing a heart attack – only for doctors to diagnose gallstone problems. It was also reported yesterday that she was told by doctors to stop smoking and eating fatty food after being examined in hospital.
A source told The Sun On Sunday: ‘They said the condition could cause organ failure if she didn’t change her lifestyle. She admitted to a bad diet, with processed food and a lot of sweets. She loves dolly mix, wine gums and Milky Bars.’
Friends of Matthews, who is said to have a ‘Best Mum’ ornament on her bedside table, say she remains obsessed with her seven children.
One said: ‘She has pictures all over her flat and has homemade collages of her life before prison in a shrine. She maintains she loves her family.’
She also claims she was held at gunpoint and ordered to make a false confession over her daughter.
A source said: ‘ She said whoever put her up to it had threatened to burn her house down.’