‘I’m not Britain’s worst mum,’ says Karen Matthews

♦ Karen Matthews, the mother of Shannon Matthews, insists she knew nothing about the plot to kidnap her daughter, saying she is not “Britain’s worst mum”.

Matthews, 43, was jailed 10 years ago at Leeds Crown Court for kidnapping and falsely imprisoning her daughter, along with Michael Donovan, her co-accused, to claim a £50,000 reward. Matthews served four years of an eight-year sentence.

“I’m not Britain’s worst mum. I didn’t kill anybody,” she told the Mirror. “None of it’s true. I’m on the edge. It makes me want to kill myself but I’d never do that. I’m scared I’ll die lonely and alone.”

Shannon was nine when she went missing in Dewsbury Moor, W Yorks.

Karen Matthews says she was made a ’scapegoat’ for the kidnapping of her daughter in 2008