Shamed Karen ...from kidnap to kid nappies
THE woman who was dubbed Britain’s worst mum after faking her own daughter’s kidnap is seen out shopping – in Mothercare.
Karen Matthews, 43, was spotted poring over romper suits and toys in a town in the south of England – where she was relocated after her prison release.
The mother of seven, who now goes under a new identity, was alone as she left the shop wearing a checked top and clutching a carrier bag, with a Superdry satchel over her shoulder.
Matthews was jailed for eight years in 2008 after being found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting justice.
She went along with the staged abduction of her daughter Shannon, nine, in a bid to claim €50,000 reward cash.
Innocent Shannon – who is 20 today – vanished in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorks, prompting a month-long police search.
Matthews and her boyfriend at the time, Craig Meehan, now 32, made several public appeals for help to find the schoolgirl.
She was finally found at the nearby flat of Matthews’ accomplice Michael Donovan, 49. The schoolgirl had been drugged and kept in a compartment under a bed. Matthews after arrest in 2008