On February 19, 2008, Shannon Matthews disappeared while making her way
home from a school swimming trip in the UK. The 999 call made by her
mother, Karen, alerted the police to the nine-year-old's disappearance
and sparked a massive search across the north of England. The story
dominated newspaper headlines and television news for the weeks that
followed and there was even an offer of a GBP 50,000 reward for the
person who found Shannon. Twenty-four days later, Shannon was found,
concealed in the base of a divan bed in a flat about a mile away from
her home in West Yorkshire. The truth that unfolded over the subsequent
weeks horrified the public, who had sympathized with the seemingly
stricken mother and even helped in the search for Shannon. It transpired
that the abduction of the innocent girl had been a wicked plan dreamed
up by her own mother in league with an accomplice, her stepfather's
uncle, Michael Donovan. Donovan lured Shannon into his car with the
promise of a trip to the fair. For almost three weeks, she was kept
hidden in his home and given temazepam and travel sickness tablets to
subdue her. While Shannon suffered, her captors came up with a plan to
release her in Dewsbury Market, and for Donovan to find her and claim
the reward money. Shannon was finally discovered when neighbors told
police that they had heard a child's footsteps coming from Donovan's
flat.
