Michael Donovan, the man who, along with Shannon Matthews’ mother Karen Matthews, staged the fake kidnap of the West Yorkshire girl, has passed away at the age of 54. Matthews and Donovan planned the nine-year-old’s disappearance in 2008 with the aim of claiming a £50,000 reward. The search for Shannon lasted for 24 days before she was discovered in a bed drawer just a few miles from her Dewsbury Moor home.
Matthews and Donovan were jailed for perverting the course of justice, false imprisonment and kidnap. A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police confirmed that the death was neither suspicious nor was it being treated as a cause for concern. The statement added that an investigation would be conducted on behalf of the coroner. Donovan was a patient at the Three Valleys Hospital, a mental health clinic situated in Keighley.
The search for Shannon in 2008 triggered a nationwide effort to discover her whereabouts and cost West Yorkshire Police £3.2m. Det Supt Andy Brennan, the lead investigating officer, labelled Matthews as “pure evil.” During Donovan and Matthews’ trial, it was revealed that Donovan had kept Shannon drugged and imprisoned in his flat as part of his and Matthews’ plan to claim the reward money. The pair received eight-year sentences.
The ordeal Shannon experienced at the hands of the kidnappers was deemed “despicable” by the judge, Mr Justice McCombie during Donovan and Matthews’ sentencing. Speaking to them both, he stated that it was impossible to conceive how they could have put the young girl through such a terrible ordeal. Despite the trauma Shannon experienced, she was not physically harmed. However, she had frequent nightmares, according to the court case
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