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Post by Big Lin on Jan 23, 2009 13:40:17 GMT
news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13141666pa.press.net Friday, 23 January 2009 ________________________________________ Shannon's mother jailed for 8 years Shannon's mother jailed for 8 years pa.press.net The mother of Shannon Matthews has been jailed for eight years for her role in the kidnap of her own daughter. Karen Matthews, 33, of Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after being found guilty last month of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice. Her former partner's uncle, Michael Donovan, 40, was convicted of the same offences and was also jailed for eight years. Shannon was found in Donovan's flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, 24 days after she went missing in February last year. Shannon, now 10, went missing on February 19 last year as she walked home from school near her home in Dewsbury Moor. West Yorkshire Police launched a massive search operation costing almost £3.2 million - one of the largest conducted by the force. On March 14, Shannon was discovered in the base of a divan bed in Donovan's flat less than a mile away from her home. It was revealed that Donovan kept her imprisoned as part of a plan he and Matthews hatched to claim a £50,000 reward offered by a national newspaper. Police believe the pair may have been influenced by the coverage of Madeleine McCann's disappearance, which was a high-profile news story in the months before Shannon went missing. After she was recovered, Shannon was found to have traces of the "potent hypnotic" drug temazepam and travel sickness medication melcozine in her system. It was believed that both Matthews and Donovan gave the girl the drugs in an attempt to keep her subdued and drowsy and that she could have taken them for up to 20 months before her abduction. Matthews told five versions of what happened to Shannon, ranging from being a distraught mother whose daughter had gone missing to blaming the crime on her former partner Craig Meehan and other members of his family. Donovan, who has convictions for arson, shoplifting and criminal damage, claimed he was terrified of Matthews and said he was threatened that he would be killed if he did not comply with her plan.
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Post by cammie on Jan 25, 2009 0:52:43 GMT
Some women are far more dangerous than a man.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2009 8:47:54 GMT
A lot of people were predicting that Karen Matthews would get a longer sentence than Donovan, though I was not so sure.
She was, after all, the child's mother, but we were told she has a low intelligence. It turns out that so does Donovan.
Do you think that if the people invlved were Shannon's father and (say) his partner's aunt, the sentences would have been the same?
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Post by cammie on Jan 28, 2009 14:20:12 GMT
If the father had been the kidnapper, he would get the book thrown at him! Women are not conviced on a fair playing field, they are coddled and proected by the idiot courts for heinous crimes.
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Post by Big Lin on Jan 28, 2009 20:09:15 GMT
You're absolutely right, Cammie. A person's gender shouldn't make a difference to a crime like this.
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Post by trubble on Jan 28, 2009 20:47:16 GMT
It seems to me that women can be attacked more for a crime rather than protected. Am I wrong?
There's this idea in our heads that women's maternal instinct should mean that if they commit the same crime as a man they are more heinous for it. I never heard the same bile about Ian Brady as I did about Myra Hindley for example.
I'm not at all convinced that the father would have had the book thrown at him any more than Karen did.
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Post by cammie on Jan 30, 2009 14:47:54 GMT
I disagree trubble. People don't want to believe a woman is capable of evil, that is true for a jury or judge too imo, because women are suppose to be caretakers.
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Post by mouse on Jan 30, 2009 22:44:20 GMT
I'm not at all convinced that the father would have had the book thrown at him any more than Karen did. when it comes to kids...women fare worse than men imo and are far more reviled
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Post by Ben Lomond on May 15, 2009 10:50:00 GMT
WTF?
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Post by motorist on May 15, 2009 11:35:38 GMT
WTF? A spammer. It has posted those links on many other proboards too
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 14:09:21 GMT
In eply 2 I asked "Do you think that if the people involved were Shannon's father and (say) his partner's aunt, the sentences would have been the same? "
I have a hunch that the girlfriend's aunt would have got less than the father, not equal prison terms, as here.
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Post by trubble on May 15, 2009 14:55:16 GMT
WTF? Moto's right. Spambot. Deleted now. Thanks.
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Post by trubble on May 15, 2009 14:57:09 GMT
I'm not at all convinced that the father would have had the book thrown at him any more than Karen did. when it comes to kids...women fare worse than men imo and are far more reviled That's the impression I get too.
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Post by trubble on May 15, 2009 14:58:19 GMT
In eply 2 I asked "Do you think that if the people involved were Shannon's father and (say) his partner's aunt, the sentences would have been the same? " I have a hunch that the girlfriend's aunt would have got less than the father, not equal prison terms, as here. Why? Are you thinking that the aunt would have claimed she was led astray and coerced? I suppose that's happened before.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2009 6:43:34 GMT
I used to spend a lot of time sitting in magistrates courts, and when a male and female defendant appeared together it was a fair bet that she would say she was coerced by the man. No doubt sometimes it was true, and often the court accepted it as mitigation.
But that wasn't the only reason for saying that there was a sexual bias to the sentencing here.
It seems reasonable to punish the parent more than the non-blood relation, which didn't happen with Karen Matthews and Michael Donovan.
But I've just had a quick look at the judge's sentencing report, and as has been mentioned before, some emphasis was laid on the fact that both were of limited intelligence and that others were almost certainly involved. Perhaps because of that the judge decided that equal terms would be less criticised.
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