SEVENTEEN years on from a sick fake kidnap plot that shocked Britain, a small town in the North of England says its community is still haunted by the lies of Britain’s worst mum.
The 2008 disappearance of nine-year-old sparked a huge nationwide search, but behind the desperate TV appeals and sob stories was a vile plot to pocket £50,000 in reward cash.
The scam, cooked up by jobless mum Karen Matthews and her accomplice saw terrified Shannon drugged, tied up, and stashed under a bed in his flat just a mile from her home.
Matthews was arrested on April 6th 2008, 23 days after Shannon was found alive as the devious plan eventually came to light.
A £50,000 reward was offered to anyone with information that could help find the missing schoolgirl – cash that her mother planned to claim for herself.
The shocking crime still haunts the town to this day, and The Sun spoke to locals who said that their tight-knit community is still battling to shake off the shame of being dragged through the mud by the mother’s cruel hoax.
Police were everywhere, searching houses one by one. Everyone thought the worst.
Martin Pickles local resident
Martin Pickles, 25, who was in the same school year as Shannon, remembers the day everything unravelled.
He says: “Police were everywhere, searching houses one by one. Everyone thought the worst.
“I was here when they found her. It turned out she was just down the road.
“You couldn’t believe it was real. At school, kids were crying when she was found. There was relief but also confusion. We had a nurse come in and tell us she’d been found and was safe.
“She never came back to school though. People don’t talk about it much anymore — maybe because it just left a bad taste. It made the whole estate look bad. Everyone had gone out of their way to help, to search for her.
“The community spirit at the time was incredible. Everyone pulled together. But when it turned out to be a scam, everyone just felt betrayed.
“People still remember – but no one really wants to bring it up. If Karen came back here now, she wouldn’t be welcome.
Martin added: “Shannon was kind, always bubbly, really friendly. If somebody were upset, she’d make sure they were okay.
“When she went missing, it hit people hard. We didn’t want to go into school.
“It made the estate look terrible, but it wasn’t the people’s fault. Everyone just wanted her safe.”;
Sick plot
Donovan, a mentally ill loner, kept Shannon captive in his dingy Batley flat for 24 days – tied up with a homemade leash.
And while he played the role of the “abductor”;, it was Matthews, then 33, who pulled the strings behind the sickening plot.
Locals say the betrayal by Matthews, who , left deep wounds in the community.
Moorside Road today is eerily similar to how it was in February 2008 when Shannon failed to return from a swimming lesson.
, in which she and her seven children were living, is now lived in by an NHS worker and her family.
But many neighbours in the 1930s estate are the same ones who searched for the youngster, only to be left heartbroken when Matthews’ deception emerged.
One local, who asked not to be named, said: “We are all normal people just trying to get by. But that lie, it stuck to all of us.
“You mention Dewsbury Moor and people think ‘scroungers’ or ‘monsters’. But most people round here would give you the shirt off their back.”;
It was upsetting but you’ve got to get over these things. I’ve lived here all my life and I think it’s a thriving town. There’s lots going on.
Pensioner Richard Goldsmith, 83, remembered the desperate search that gripped the country – and his town.
He said: “I remember that the police were completely overworked.
“Every house in the area was searched, high and low.
“I had been in the police cadets and the officers knew who I was, but they still wanted to look around my house. It was the same for everyone.
“The whole saga gave Dewsbury a lot of publicity – I think a lot of people hadn’t heard of the place until then. Now they do, but for the wrong reasons.
“It was upsetting but you’ve got to get over these things. I’ve lived here all my life and I think it’s a thriving town. There’s lots going on.”;
Matthews served four years in prison for kidnap and false imprisonment.
One resident recalled spotting Matthews at the post office a week after her arrest, accompanied by a police officer.
“I’d never met her before but she turned and winked at me – like she thought she was famous. It was like she loved the limelight.
“Maybe she thought she was somebody.
‘There’s a shadow here’
“Like Andy Warhol said, everybody’s famous for 15 minutes. She’s had her 15 minutes, hasn’t she?”;
Takeaway boss Shokat Mahmood, 54, who once served Matthews at his kebab shop, said the estate was once so dangerous taxi drivers refused to enter.
He told The Sun: “It was a no-go zone. Women daren’t walk alone at night.
“It was so bad here that even taxi drivers used to get fares to drop them off outside the estate.
“They were refusing to come in because they were getting their windows smashed.
“But it’s changed now. Back then you couldn’t sell a three-bed for £60k – now they go for £160k.”;
But he admitted: “That shadow is still there. People will always associate Dewsbury with that story.
“But there’s more to it than that, and people are cracking on with their lives. What happened tainted the area but slowly it’s getting there.”;
Another local, like many afraid to speak on record about Matthews, said the town was riddled with issues, regardless of the damage caused by her lies.
But amid the bitterness, some locals are hopeful the town can finally shake off its grim reputation.
Kim Gott, 62, said: “Karen Matthews is old hat now. I think it was a flash in the pan. Nobody mentions her these days.
“I lived up the road from where the estate is. We saw everyone looking for Shannon. It is a rough estate where she lived but the whole community was out there looking for her as soon as she was reported missing.
“I think they felt terribly betrayed when it emerged what had happened.
“There are a lot of good, friendly people there who will go to the ends of the earth to help each other.”;
At John Greenwood’s clothing store – trading in the town since 1860 – owner Sue Baker, 66, added: “Dewsbury’s not half as bad as people make out. It’s a lovely town and it’s shame that it has this reputation.
“I think the scaremongering puts a lot of people off but Dewsbury is no different to any other town.
“People have a lot of pride in the town. It’s not all doom and gloom.”;
Donovan, plagued by mental health issues, died in April 2024 aged 54 after collapsing inside a psychiatric unit.
Matthews’ then-boyfriend, Craig Meehan, was later exposed as a pervert and convicted for possessing child abuse images on his computer.
Shannon was given a new identity and no longer lives in Dewsbury but the town will never forget its dark past.
