Kidnap mother missing home comforts

THE mother of Shannon Matthews said the things she misses in prison are sex, shopping and coffee at her neighbour’s house – but did not mention her seven children, it was reported yesterday.

Karen Matthews, 33, was jailed for eight years at Leeds Crown Court in January after she was found guilty of the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Shannon and perverting the course of justice.

Matthews denied the charges throughout the trial last year and blamed the crime on other people.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror at Peterborough Prison, she insisted she had been “framed” by her accomplice, Michael Donovan, 40, who kept nine-year-old Shannon imprisoned in his flat in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, for 24 days. The pair hatched the plan in order to claim a £50,000 (€56,513) reward offered by a national newspaper.

Matthews said: “My downfall has always been men. I get the blame for everything.

“I was framed. I didn’t do it. I don’t care about money, but how am I ever going to prove I’m innocent?”

Donovan was also sentenced to eight years in jail for kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

Shannon, now aged 10, was found less than a mile from her home, hidden in the base of a divan bed in Donovan’s flat.