KAREN MATTHEWS was dubbed ‘Britain’s worst mum’ after playing a part in the kidnapping of her nine-year-old daughter Shannon in 2008.
The mum-of-seven was sentenced to eight years behind bars, but served just half of her time and was released from prison in 2012.
The hated mum – who was given a new identity upon her release – was spotted in December 2020 flat hunting with her paedophile fiancé, Paul Saunders.
Matthews was relocated to the south of England after leaving prison.
She was given a new name but claimed her past made it impossible for her to find a job and she had to survive on £25-a-week handouts.
Matthews complained in 2016: “I haven’t even got credit on my phone“.
However, a year later, Matthews was pictured working in a charity shop the day after the first episode of 2017 BBC drama The Moorside aired, later pictured going shopping before meeting her Bible group for coffee.
The former factory cleaner wants plastic surgery to stop her getting hassled in the street.
The disgraced mum still maintains her innocence and has been bombarded with death threats since the BBC drama was broadcast.
Shannon is now an adult and is not believed to have any contact with her mother.
A source said Karen took parenting lessons while in prison in case she has any more children, despite her seven kids being taken away when she was arrested over the kidnap.
She is also believed to be hooked on scratchcards in the hope of getting rich quick, using her state handouts to fund the gambling habit.
Karen was going out with kidnap accomplice Michael Donovan’s nephew Craig Meehan at the time and the pair devised an elaborate plot between them.
They had planned to release the schoolgirl, “discover her” then take her to a police station and claim the £50,000 reward before splitting the cash.
On December 4, 2008, mum-of-seven Karen and Donovan were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
Both were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to eight years behind bars.
Karen is the mum of Shannon Matthews, a schoolgirl who made national headlines when she vanished in 2008.
Shannon’s mother made a number of public appeals for information on her daughter’s whereabouts during the month she was missing, despite knowing where she was all along.
In 2018, Karen was caught up in another scandal as it was claimed that she was picking up unused grub from a Pret A Manger store on the understanding that she takes them to a soup kitchen – but instead flogs them to homeless people.
Karen sparked outrage when we told how she has a Best Mum ornament on her bedside table.
The Moorside, a BBC One drama retelling the story of Shannon Matthews’ abduction, proved enormously popular with viewers and critics in 2017.
Sheridan Smith played Karen’s former friend Julie Bushby who continued to visit Karen in prison to try to get answers about the abduction.
During her time in jail Karen allegedly made money writing “dirty letters” to pen pals.
Following the success of the drama, the story was revisited by Channel 5 in a new documentary – Shannon Matthews: The Mother’s Story.
And Karen has since shockingly been offered a big-money book deal for a tell-all story about her daughter’s kidnapping ordeal.
A two-part documentary by Channel 5 released in 2021 – The Disappearance Of Shannon Matthews – featured interviews with Shannon’s best friend, members of the local community and police officers.
Shannon Matthews disappeared on her way home from a swimming lesson at Westmoor primary school in 2008, in a case that shocked the nation.
Hundreds of neighbours joined the search which cost West Yorkshire Police £3.2million and lasted 24 days.
The nine-year-old was found tethered and drugged inside the base of a double bed at relative Michael Donovan’s grotty flat almost a month after she disappeared.
Karen Matthews, Shannon’s mum, was going out with Donovan’s nephew Craig Meehan at the time – and the pair had devised the elaborate plot in a bid to claim the £50,000 reward money for finding Shannon.
They had planned to release the schoolgirl, “discover her” then take her to a police station and claim the reward before splitting the cash.
The first photograph of Craig Meehan since the fake kidnapping emerged on February 5.
Meehan, who had nothing to do with Shannon’s abduction, was jailed for 20 weeks after unrelated child sex abuse material was discovered on his computer.
Shannon has been given a new identity.
Matthews and Donovan came up with six contradictory explanations.
Meehan’s mum was overheard on the phone telling someone, thought to be Matthews, to keep quiet.
Matthews was arrested after breaking down during a car trip with friends who confronted her over their suspicions. It was overheard by a police support officer in the car with them.
Karen babbled that she had asked Donovan to look after Shannon as part of a plot to get away from Meehan, but “everything went wrong”.
Police family liaison officer Christine Freeman later said she had suspected early on that “something was not right” about the way Karen was acting.
She said: “When I got to the house Karen and her boyfriend, Craig Meehan, were playing on an Xbox. Karen hardly looked up.
“After a few minutes my phone rang. I had a pop song as my ringtone and Karen got up and started dancing to it. I remember thinking, ‘this is really odd’.”
