Accused denies using strap to control Shannon

THE man accused of kidnapping Shannon Matthews yesterday denied using an elasticated strap to “enforce” his control of the youngster while she was held captive in his flat.

The strap was found tied to a loft beam in Michael Donovan’s flat and it is alleged it was used to restrain Shannon’s movements.

The jury at Leeds Crown Court was again shown a 3-D image of the strap and how it could have restricted Shannon’s movements around the flat.

Shannon, who was nine at the time, was found in Donovan’s flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, 24 days after she went missing from her home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, in February.

The prosecution allege Donovan, aged 40, kept the youngster drugged and imprisoned in his flat and forced her to keep to a strict set of rules. The list of demands included keeping quiet and not going near the windows. Several of the instructions had portions underlined.

Under cross examination for the prosecution, Julian Goose QC, put it to Donovan he used the strap to control Shannon’s movements when she was alone in the flat.

“I don’t know anything about the strap,” Donovan told the jury.

Mr Goose put it to him that the elastic strap made it possible for Shannon to go to the toilet in his flat.

“It wasn’t wrapped around her,” he replied.

Donovan told the jury she was able to move around the flat “freely”.

Earlier, Donovan, 40, was accused of being involved with other members of his family in a plan to abduct the schoolgirl.

Donovan and Shannon’s mother Karen Matthews, aged 33, both deny kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice in connection with the girl’s disappearance.

It is claimed Matthews was plotting to claim £50,000 (€59,362) reward money from her daughter’s faked kidnap.

The trial continues.