Shannon Matthews was drugged before kidnapping, court hears

[Ali.]

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Shannon Matthews was drugged and kidnapped as part of a "dishonest and wicked" plan concocted by her mother and an accomplice to claim the reward money they hoped would be offered for her return, a court was told today at the start of their trial.

Karen Matthews, 33, and Michael Donovan, 40, are charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of the girl, who was nine when her disappearance in February prompted a major search operation by West Yorkshire police. She was found in Donovan's flat 24 days later.

Prosecutors at Leeds crown court said Donovan drugged Shannon with temazepam and travel sickness tablets called Traveleeze, and had written down a list of rules she must follow, which were found on a document on top of the television.

The instructions included: she must not go near windows, must not make any noise or bang her feet, and must keep the television volume low. She was told that she could play her Super Mario games and music CDs.

It was alleged Donovan used an elasticated strap with a noose on the end to restrain Shannon when he went out of the house.

The prosecutor, Julian Goose QC, said Karen Matthews raised the alarm about her daughter's disappearance in an emergency call on February 19.

"The 999 call was part of a dishonest and we say wicked plan by Michael Donovan and Karen Matthews. Shannon was an innocent victim of the plan," Goose said.

"She was kidnapped and falsely imprisoned in the flat where Donovan lived.

"She was drugged to subdue her during the period of her captivity."

The court heard that the "overwhelming likelihood is that the reason for the plan was dishonestly to obtain the reward money offered by the press".

The reward money was up to £50,000 at the height of the search, Goose said. "The prosecution's case is that this plan was as dishonest as it was wicked.

"Both defendants stood by and watched the very large police investigation and assistance by many members of the public in the search for Shannon.

"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 that described the extent of the investigation.

"He was watching the public search as the reward money grew," Goose said.

The court was told that Shannon, who was in year four at Westmoor junior school in Dewsbury, went to school as "part of a normal school day" on February 19 and was looking forward to swimming for the first time with her friends.

They were taken by bus to the pool and returned to school at about 3.10pm. After the teachers saw Shannon and the other children get off the bus there was no further sign of her, the court heard.

The prosecution told the court that waiting on the route home was Donovan, who was sitting in his Peugeot 406 car.

"Donovan had arranged with Karen Matthews to take Shannon in his car and as Donovan was later to say to the police, he tricked her by telling Shannon a lie,'' he said.

"He told Shannon Matthews that she was to be taken to a fair. No doubt this was said in order to cause Shannon to get into the car willingly with Michael Donovan.

"With this lie as part of the plan agreed with Karen Matthews, Shannon was kidnapped and taken away."

The court was played the recording of the 999 call made by Matthews to the police in which she sounded upset as she described her daughter and appealed for help.

Goose said "other victims" in the case were the friends, neighbours and residents of the Dewsbury Moor estate who helped look for Shannon. "Substantial resources" were diverted away from genuine investigations in the search for Shannon, he 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 a deliberately false complaint", he said.

Police found Shannon hidden inside a bed base in Donovan's flat after they smashed their way in.

"Shannon was heard to say 'stop it, you're frightening me' before she was recovered," said Goose.

Donovan was also hiding in the bed, the court was told, and struggled before he was arrested.

A subsequent search showed the flat contained the "rules document", the Traveleeze tablets, a prescription for drugs, including temazepam and a copy of The Sun newspaper displaying the £50,000 reward.

Matthews, of Moorside Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and Donovan, of Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

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This is indeed very strange.

Source.

[Muezzin]

Innocent until proven guilty, obviously.

Though if they are indeed proven guilty, they were acting reprehensibly, immorally and idiotically.

To put it lightly.