Shannon 'drugged'
- 00:01:16
- ITN
Shannon 'drugged'
Shannon Matthews was drugged and probably tied up during her captivity, a court has heard. Shannon's mother, 33-year-old Karen Matthews, and 40-year-old Michael Donovan are charged with kidnapping Shannon, now ten. Outlining their case, the prosecution claims Karen Matthews embarked on a "dishonest and wicked plan" with Donovan when she called 999 to report her daughter missing. Prosecutor Julian Goose QC said: "Shannon was an innocent victim of the plan. She was kidnapped and falsely imprisoned in the flat where Donovan lived. She was drugged to subdue her during the period of her captivity." He also claimed that a strap found tied to a roof beam in the flat where she was found had probably been used to restrain her while Donovan went shopping. He added the "overwhelming likelihood is that the reason for the plan was dishonestly to obtain the reward money offered by the press". The court heard that at its height the money was up to £50,000. Mr Goose told the jury at Leeds Crown Court: "Karen Matthews made impassioned public pleas for the recovery of her daughter, some of those you will see from television recordings shown on national television. "Karen Matthews also gave deliberately misleading and false leads for investigation by the police." He said Donovan kept Shannon "drugged, subdued and hidden from the public" and bought newspapers which described the extent of the investigation. "He was watching the public search as the reward money grew," Mr Goose said. He said "other victims" in the case were the friends, neighbours and residents of the Dewsbury Moor estate who helped look for the youngster. Mr Goose said the public followed the day-by-day events until Shannon was eventually found, "only then to discover that it had all been a lie, a trick and deliberately false complaint". She was found after 24 days less than a mile from her home. Donovan, the uncle of Matthews' ex-partner, Craig Meehan, was arrested on the day Shannon was discovered. Matthews, of Moorside Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and Donovan, of Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, and formerly known as Paul Drake, have pleaded not guilty to Kidnap and false imprisonment and have also denied perverting the course of justice. The trial is expected to last three weeks.
ITN | November 12, 2008
