“karen Matthews is still my friend – she was stupid, not evil”
Karen Matthews was dubbed Britain’s most hated mum after she was found guilty of kidnapping her daughter, Shannon. With the story now a BBC drama, Karen’s friend Julie Bushby (above) shockingly tells Closer why she feels sorry for her…
When nine-yearold Shannon W Matthews disappeared on 19 February 2008, it sparked a 24-day police hunt. Moorside council estate – where she lived in Dewsbury, Yorkshire – was left reeling, and the close-knit community rallied together to search tirelessly for the little girl, with many fearing the worst.
But an even bigger shockwave followed. Far from being kidnapped by an opportunistic stranger as the public believed, her own mother, Karen Matthews, now 41, had plotted her disappearance. And Shannon had been sedated and, it’s believed, tied up at a flat belonging to her boyfriend’s uncle, Michael Donovan, 48.
Donovan later said he was hoping to share the £50,000 reward money with Karen. Instead, they were both sentenced to eight years.
BY HER SIDE
Friend and neighbour Julie Bushby was at Karen’s side throughout her “ordeal.” She was instrumental in setting up marches to keep Shannon’s disappearance in the news; she also helped to organise a candlelit vigil and the printing of T-shirts and posters. And she waited in the wings while Karen faked tears in television pleas for her daughter’s return.
FRIEND CONNECTION
Astonishingly, despite this, Julie has stayed loyal to Karen – and still regards her as a friend.
The pair first met when they both went to local parenting classes a couple of years before Shannon’s disappearance – Karen has seven children by five different fathers.
Julie, 46, who’s being played by Sheridan Smith in The Moorside, the BBC’S adaptation of the story, says: “I’m still her mate. I went to see her in prison and she’d write to me – they were childish letters with pink drawings.
“I can’t describe why she’s my friend. There was just a connection there, and that doesn’t change – whatever someone’s done.”
While Julie doesn’t condone Karen’s actions, she certainly doesn’t see her as the “pure evil,” which Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan, who was in charge of the case, branded her.
“I think she was stupid, not evil,” says Julie. “She’s like a child – she doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing. I believe her IQ must be low. I don’t think she was clever enough to have devised a plot to kidnap Shannon for money. I believe it escalated and she was caught up in it – it all snowballed and she didn’t know how to come clean.”
HUGE SEARCH
Whatever Julie’s thoughts, the facts that emerged during the trial about Shannon’s ordeal were horrific.
Karen had phoned police on 19 February to say that her daughter hadn’t been seen since getting off the school bus from swimming outside school that afternoon.
The ensuing police search cost £3.2million – West Yorkshire Police questioned
1,500 motorists and searched 3,000 houses. In total, around 250 officers and 60 detectives were involved in the investigation.
Shannon was finally found 24 days later on 14 March, hidden in the base of a divan bed in Donovan’s flat in Batley Carr, just over a mile away from the estate, after a tip-off from Donovan’s family. The schoolgirl had been kept in the flat and drugged with sedatives to keep her quiet. Tests showed that she’d been drugged before, too – possibly for as long as 20 months.
When police raided the flat and arrested Donovan, he told them to “get Karen down here. We’d got a plan. We’re sharing the money – £50,000.”
After Shannon was found, there was no happy reunion with her mother. Shannon was taken into care and her whereabouts and new identity have been protected.
Karen initially denied any involvement with her daughter’s disappearance but, three weeks later, while in a police car with Julie, her former best friend Natalie Brown and a family liaison officer, she confessed.
Julie, who has three children and seven grandchildren, remembers: “While Shannon was missing, all my energy was focused on that little girl and just getting her back.
“It was only once she was found that I thought Karen’s behaviour was odd.
“Natalie and I questioned her and she finally caved and confessed she’d known where Shannon was all along.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing – it made me feel sick to think Karen had been involved.”
Karen was arrested and tried along with Donovan at Leeds Crown Court. There, she retracted the confession and told five different versions of events to police.
The mum-of-seven sobbed while giving evidence, denying she had anything to do with her daughter’s disappearance and blaming Donovan.
However, the jury found both her and Donovan guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
CLOSE TO THE TRUTH
Karen served four years in prison and was released in 2012 on licence. Since then, it has been reported that she’s suicidal, desperate for forgiveness and is considering plastic surgery to change her appearance out of fear of being recognised by the public.
Today Julie still lives in Dewsbury. She says: “I like the estate – it’s home. It’s always felt safe to me, the community always rallies round. It’s a place where the kids still play out on the streets.
“The BBC drama is very close to the truth. Sheridan and I have become friends – she was great. And I think it’s important for Shannon to see the truth.
“Since she has been released I’ve not been allowed to see Karen for legal reasons, but I would if I could. What she did was really wrong. But I don’t think she could have planned it; I don’t think she knew what to do when it all spiralled.
“I felt sorry for her then, and I still feel sorry for her now.”
‘I don’t think she was clever enough to plan the kidnap’
The Moorside airs on Tuesday 7 February, 9pm, BBC1