All news on the topic: Shannon Matthews

Karen Matthews became notorious in 2008 when her daughter Shannon vanished and was then found to have been behind the kidnapping along with oddball Michael Donovan who has died of cancer

An ex-friend of Karen Matthews described it as 'karma' after news that Shannon Matthews' kidnap plot accomplice Mick Donovan had died of brain cancer

Shannon Matthews, then nine, went missing for 24 days in 2008, but it later emerged that her mum Karen Matthews faked her disappearance to pocket the reward money

Karen Matthews achieved notoriety after she staged the fake kidnap of her daughter Shannon this time 16 years ago. Here, The Mirror reveals what happened to Britain's 'worst mum' after she was released from prison four years later