Shannon Matthews gran says kidnap was best thing to happen
THE words from her own mother should haunt Karen Matthews for the rest of her life.
June Matthews - Shannon’s Grandmother - says: “I never thought I would say this but the kidnap plot is the best thing that could have happened to Shannon.
“Those three weeks have saved her from a lifetime of misery. We know she will live with her ordeal forever, but anything is better than the awful future she faced with Karen.”
Heartbroken June delivered her damning verdict in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror, as daughter Karen, 33, faces a lengthy jail term over the evil Shannon kidnap plot.
Matthews and oddball Michael Donovan, 40 - her lover’s uncle - kept her drugged and tethered in Donovan’s flat for 24 days as part of a plot to pocket reward money.
And June today tells how she watched in desperation as Karen reduced her children’s lives to ruins while social workers did nothing to help.
June, 65, shockingly revealed Karen forced Shannon to eat bread off the floor, while she and her friends feasted on steak and kidney pie and chips.
And she revealed how she knew when social workers were due to visit Karen - because her daughter always asked to borrow money for food.
She said: “Once, I’d called round to see the kiddies, as I often did. When I walked in Karen and her mates were sat around on the sofas laughing and joking.
“They all had huge plates of steak and kidney pie, chips and peas.
“Poor Shannon was sat on the floor. She was dirty faced and was eating dry bread straight off the carpet. It was despicable.
“She looked awful - it was as if they didn’t even know she was there.
“I confronted Karen and asked why Shannon wasn’t having the same as them. She just looked at me and said, ‘She likes what she’s got.’
It was one of many horrific incidents witnessed by June as her daughter’s behaviour deteriorated over the years. Karen’s behaviour got so bad that worried aunties and uncles of Shannon repeatedly reported her to social services.
They would often visit Karen - and her children were even put on the “at risk” list - but she was allowed to continue looking after them.
June continued: “I always knew when social services were due because Karen would ask to borrow money. When I asked what it was for, she would say: ‘I have to buy food to fill the cupboards - the social worker is coming.’
“It was the only time she filled the cupboards with proper food.”
Most of Karen’s money went of booze and cigarettes for her and whichever man she was living with at the time. Karen has seven children by six different fathers.
June said: “She would spend her money on fags then borrow money for gas and electricity. She came round on the day Shannon was missing and borrowed money for gas. She never put the kids first.”
One of the most horrific sights June encountered was another of her young grandchildren wrapped in a dirty curtain on the stairs of Karen’s house.
June said: “I once walked into the house and found one of the little ones wrapped up in a dirty curtain on the stairs, looking like a mummy and crying and wailing.
“Karen had just left the poor thing there as if it was a normal thing to do.”
She added: “I also found Shannon as a baby, covered in sick and with a dirty nappy in the corner of the room. She smelt awful and was really wailing. I screamed at Karen to change and bathe her, but I ended up doing it myself.”
June has had several of Karen’s seven children live with her throughout their lives. She and husband Gordon brought Shannon up for the first two months after she was born because Karen could not cope.
June said: “Shannon was brought from the hospital by a nurse to stay in my care.
“Karen came from the hospital to stay here too for about two months then she took the children home with her.
“I brought Shannon up for first two months.”
June - who has five sons and two daughters - added: “I did everything I could for Karen. She’s had more help, love and support than any of my other kids but she just didn’t appreciate it.
“What she did is horrific but at least now Shannon and the others are away from her evil.”
June believes Shannon will never forgive her mother and will struggle to come to terms with what happened to her.
She said: “She’s Karen’s baby and when all’s said and done Shannon will be thinking in her little mind, ‘Why did my mummy do that to me?’.
“That will be in that child?s mind forever - she’ll never forget what they did to her.
“They tied her up and treated her worse than a dog.
“If Karen gets five years in prison, Shannon will be 15 when she gets out. She will never speak to her mother again.”
June told how she and her husband Gordon were distraught at what their daughter had done - but the worst thing was hearing how their grandaughter was tethered so she could not escape from Donovan’s dingy flat.
The court heard how Donovan - the uncle of Karen’s live in lover Craig Meehan, 22 - tied up Shannon and left post-it notes around his flat telling her the strict house rules.
June said: “To hear that Donovan had gone to such terrible lengths as using a noose to keep Shannon in his flat was horryfying. “The first time we knew of that - and of her being drugged - was when we heard about it during the trial.
“I wept for hours. No one should ever have to endure that in their lifetime.”
June and Gordon have endured months of hell - first believing their granddaughter was dead, then coming to the realisation that their own daughter was responsible for the whole nightmare.
Astonishingly, Karen even accused her own dad of taking Shannon - sparking a harrowing police search of their home. June said: “We were forced out of the house for four days - Thursday to Sunday night. My sister had to put us up.”
Shannon’s grandparents told how the police ransacked their house and even accused them of hiding Shannon’s body. Gordon, 67, said: “We were treated like suspects, her own grandparents. It was disgusting.
“I had a blanket in a dustbin in the cellar, I keep it there to cover the carpets when we decorate. They opened it and asked me if she was in the dustbin.
“I said, ‘You’re pathetic’. “I would never hurt her - I adored Shannon. I was taken to the police station and held in a cell.
“I can’t forgive Karen for putting us through that. She knew all along where Shannon was and she tried to blame me. She’s dead to me. I never want to see her again.” June said: “I haven’t slept for five weeks. Part of me was hoping there had been some mistake. I was praying that she hadn’t done it. But I knew I was kidding myself.
“We’ve both been ill. I’ve been in and out of hospital since Shannon went, with the stress. Gordon has to take medication because he has lost so much weight. Karen has ruined our lives and our health.
“What she did is horrific. To give Shannon Tamazepam - one of the strongest things you can give to a child. She drugged her.
“Shannon might not have woken up and then we’d have a death at our doorstep. That would have hurt Karen more - you can’t go back from that.” June and Gordon’s thoughts are now with their grandchildren. They have not been allowed to see Shannon - now 10 - was found on March 14.
Breaking into sobs June said: “It?s breaking my heart. I just want my grandkids with me. I just want them here. “They don’t know what’s happening, God love them. They’ll have God knows what going through their little minds.
“I go to bed and I can’t think of anything but those kids. My other children still bring their kids to visit, but it’s not the same.
“When I see Shannon again, I’ll break down. I just want to give her a massive cuddle and tell her it’s all okay. It’s not her fault. She needs to know she is loved. We love her to bits.
“I’ve bought them all lots of presents for Christmas and they each have their own Santa sack.
“I’m keeping them upstairs and just hoping I’ll be allowed to take them to the kids. We’ve been promised a visit soon - I just want to cuddle them.” June and Karen had a good relationship before Shannon went missing, and saw each other daily.
June said: “It’s so hard. I loved Karen. She ?s my daughter. I loved that kid. “I saw her every day. She would bring Shannon for breakfast every morning.
“They have all lived with me at some point. Even Karen has lived here with the kids, in between men. “
She added: “Karen won’t cope in prison, I think she’ll try to commit suicide. Gordon and me have washed our hands with her. You forgive and forget when it comes to family, but this is too much. She is still our daughter, but some things are unforgivable.
“Shannon was a good kid. People say she was shy and timid, but she was full of affection. She’d come round here for her tea and give me a massive hug.
“If Karen loved her she wouldn’t have done what she did. She did it for attention and money. She was in a lot of debt. She knew from day one where our Shannon was. Why couldn’t she just have told the truth instead of pointing the finger, wasting millions of pounds and worrying us all to death?
“I won’t see Karen again. I would crack up if I saw her. It is too much for any mother to take. “I want to ask her why she did it. I want answers as much as anyone else but I cant face her.
“People say we haven’t been to visit her but we tried. We rang the prison but she refused to see us. Now we know for sure she’s guilty we don’t want to see her. It would kill Gordon; it is so hard for him.
“I’m her mother, and hearing stories about her trying to kill herself was heartbreaking. I was ready to forgive her everything, but not now.”
Comments
- No comments yet - be the first!
Add a comment
Next entry: Haringey: the tragic betrayal of another child
Previous entry: Shannon council failed to save boy