The mother of Shannon Matthews displayed a “Jekyll and Hyde” character during the 24-day search for her daughter – joking with friends behind closed doors but subdued with the police and press, a court in Britain heard today.

The mother of abducted nine-year-old Shannon Matthews did not ask about the welfare of her daughter when police told her she had been found but made a “glib comment” about an officer’s mobile ringtone, a court heard today.

British schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was drugged and imprisoned in a flat after her mother hatched a plan to make £50,000 (€60,800) from her faked kidnap, a court heard today.