Mom kept girl on leash
LONDON - SCHOOLGIRL Shannon Matthews was drugged and probably
kept captive on a leash in a 'wicked' plot hatched by her mother
and another man to claim a newspaper reward for her recovery, a
court was told on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Julian Goose said a looped strap tied to a roof beam
at the West Yorkshire flat where she had been held for over three
weeks was probably used to restrain the nine-year-old.
Mr Goose said her mother Karen called police on Feb 19 to say
her daughter had not returned to her Dewsbury home from a school
swimming trip, sparking a massive police hunt.
'The 999 call was part of a dishonest and we say wicked plan by
Michael Donovan and Karen Matthews', the Press Association
reporting him as telling Leeds Crown Court.
'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'.
Karen Matthews and Donovan, the uncle of her then boyfriend
Craig Meehan, deny charges of kidnap, false imprisonment and
perverting the course of justice.
Mr Goose said Donovan had told police the plan was to release
Shannon in Dewsbury Market and for Donovan to discover her.
He would then have claimed a newspaper reward, which had risen
to 50,000 pounds (S$113,127) by the time police found Shannon in
Donovan's flat, around a mile from her home, 24 days after she
disappeared.
'The prosecution's case is that this plan was as dishonest as it
was wicked', Mr Goose said.
'Karen Matthews was using one of her own children in her plan
with Donovan to kidnap and falsely imprison her'.
'Both defendants stood by and watched the very large police
investigation and assistance by many members of the public in the
search for Shannon'.
Shannon's disappearance sparked one of Britain's largest ever
missing person hunts, which involved more than 300 police officers
and cost almost 3.2 million pounds.
'Throughout this extensive search, Karen Matthews maintained her
lie and Michael Donovan watched as the reward money increased',
said Mr Goose.
Matthews was a 'consummate and convincing liar', taking part in
impassioned televised appeals for her daughter's return.
'Both defendants stood by and watched the very large police
investigation and assistance by many members of the public in the
search for Shannon', Mr Goose added.
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'.
Donovan had been waiting in his car on Shannon's route home from
school and persuaded her to get in by telling her she was going to
a fair.
He kept Shannon in his flat and wrote a set of rules telling her
to keep quiet and stay away from the windows to prevent her
discovery.
But he also subdued the girl by giving her Temazepam sleeping
pills and Traveleeze travel sickness tablets, Mr Goose said.
Traces of both drugs were found in her blood after she was
rescued.
The case continues. -- REUTERS
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20081113-100392.html
Too much generousity from the society to help the less fortunate
had made people into scheming bastards.
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