Shannon Matthews trial: Madeleine McCann case may have inspired Shannon Matthews’ kidnap

Madeleine McCann's mysterious disappearance in Portugal provided the backdrop for the kidnap of Shannon Matthews on a West Yorkshire council estate.

Shannon Matthews trial: Madeleine McCann case may have inspired Shannon Matthews kidnap
Shannon Matthews was missing for three and a half weeks Credit: Photo: PA

As the Find Madeleine Fund grew to one million pounds so did the desires of Karen Matthews and Michael Donovan to make money.

Police believe the pair hatched their plan in the knowledge that the public's generosity could be guaranteed.

Word on the street suggested they may also have been acting out a plot from the Channel 4 drama series Shameless screened in the month before Shannon vanished.

In it a dysfunctional family, staged the fake kidnap of the youngest son in an attempt to obtain a £500,000 ransom. All along, the boy was hidden a few doors away with a friend of his sister.

Shannon, then nine, failed to return from school after her a swimming lesson on Feb 19, prompting Britain's biggest ever search for a missing person.

Her mother made tearful, emotive television appeals, neighbours arranged sponsored walks, candlelit vigils and other events around the Dewsbury Moor estate.

Reports were investigated of people purporting to be members of the Shannon's family approaching the McCann fund for money.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, said: “It’s beyond belief anyone could have sought to exploit poor Madeleine’s plight in this way.”

Paul Abbott, creator of Shameless, is indignant over reports suggesting Shannon’s kidnap was inspired by an episode, in which Debbie Gallagher abducted her younger brother.

He said: “There have been 70 episodes, and in every episode Debbie shows how to keep the family together. Well, why haven't they learned that, if that's the prevalent example of behaviour? Why have they only learned the abduction one? I tell you, I was so angry.”

By the time Shannon was found, beneath a bed at Donovan's dingy flat a mile from her home after 24 days, the reward for information leading to her safe return had risen to £50,000. Among items recovered were newspapers giving the details.

Det Supt Andy Brennan, of West Yorkshire's Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: "Clearly the McCann case was still in everbody's mind.

"Madeleine McCann gave them the idea - the fund money. Shannon was chosen instead of her brother because she was a girl and more photogenic.

"I believe they were trying to get £50,000, that's supported by the newspapers in the flat and the comments of Donovan. I don't believe everything he says, but believe he was motivated by the desire to get money.

"Where Karen Matthews is concerned, if it was the money or Shannon the money would always have won. I think it's really sad because it's the one person Shannon should have been able to trust.

"Karen Matthews had put her daughter in a dangerous position with total disregards for her safety and the motivation behind that in our view was financial."

Donovan claimed the idea had been for him to release Shannon at Dewsbury market before "finding" her in the view of CCTV cameras and handing her in to police before claiming the reward.

As he was driven away after being arrested, he told police: "Get Karen down here, we'd got a plan, we're sharing the money - £50,000."

When police burst into his first floor flat in Batley Carr they found a couple of bags already packed after he realised they may be closing in on him.

Det Supt Brennan said: "It's my belief that had Donovan taken the opportunity and escaped from Batley Carr on the day Shannon was rescued, I don't believe that we would have recovered her alive.

"Although he's a sad and pathetic individual, he's quite clever because he tried to maintain this persona of a dysfunctional individual incapable of making any decisions on his own. The reality is it has been a charade. He's more than capable of living a normal life."

An elasticated strap with a noose on the end was found in his loft and may have been used as a method of restraint when he went out shopping.

With it around her waist, Shannon would have been able to use the toilet and certain rooms, but not get out of the flat.

Although Donovan denied any knowledge of it, there was a partial DNA match to him found on the item.

Toxicology tests on Shannon's hair found she had been given five different drugs - including ante-depressants and powerful painkillers - during 20 months up to and during her captivity. Four of them were prescribed to Donovan and the other available over the counter.

The effect would have been to subdue her and make her drowsy. It is thought Shannon was drugged throughout her captivity in the flat, leaving her with little recall of what had happened to her.

Although there was no evidence of her being physically abused, several drawings by Shannon found including a penis with a hand around it and below the words: Mummy and Mike.

There was also a list of rules on the television in Donovan's handwriting telling her was she could not do, including not making a noise, banging her feet, going near the window or doing anything without him being there.

She was allowed to have the television on low volume, play Super Mario games and CDs. The A4 sheet ended with the initials IPU, initials also used by her mother signifying "I promise you".

Shortly after she was recovered she was asked if she wanted to go back to her mother and she replied "No".

Matthews was not really interested in her daughter's return after three and a half weeks and had to be prompted to show her some attention by a family liaison officer when they were first re-united.

Det Supt Brennan was walking from a meeting with police authority appraising members about the case that he took the call from the control saying Shannon had been found. He asked "Where's the body?" the reply came: "She's alive".

Experience shows that where children have been abducted and killed, the death almost always occurs within three days and the body found within half a mile of where they were snatched.

There were over 300 registered sex offenders living within half mile radius of Shannon's home. The number was swollen by 50 or 60 on thesay she went missing with up to 60 sex offenders sent from courts throughout northern England to two bail hostels in northern England.

Among the 300 members of Shannon's extended family there were some with convictions for offences involving children.

When he went back to Dewsbury Police station he walked into the room where Shannon was standing and it took a few seconds to sink in that she was alive.

She was wearing a summer dress and her hair had been cut, withthe fringe was short and very uneven. "She just said `Hello', I smiled at her and said `Hello' back. Nothing more needed to be said."

During days of sensitive questioning by specially trained officers, the one thing she was consistent about was that she had been pushed into Donovan's car at the end of her road.

Det Supt Brennan said: "One of the frustration was that we couldn't get any real specific information from her. We thought she could tell us everything, we didn't realise what she had been through.

"The emotion of seeing her alive was too much for some people. The pressure the team was incredible. At times we almost reached breaking point. The vast majority of staff and officers were parents and grandparents themselves. We didn't need to remind them of the consequences of not finding Shannon.

"I've never seen an incident room like it, everyone was in tears of joy. We knew or we thought we knew she was dead."