Shannon Matthews: The McCanns, A Shameless Scam And Paul Donovan
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
THE STAR: “SHANNON SNATCH ‘SCAM’”
A scam? Who would have thought it?
The mum of Shannon Matthews has allegedy confessed that her daughter’s abduction was just a Shameless scam.
Sobbing Karen Matthews, 32, was arrested on suspicion of perverting justice after reportedly telling a woman detective she had known where Shannon was all along.
Shameless? Ashamed?
In an episode of the Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless, screened just four weeks before Shannon vanished, family head Frank Gallagher’s teenage daughter Debbie staged the fake kidnap of her younger brother Liam in a bid to pocket a £500,000 ransom.
“Missing” Liam – played by Johnny Bennett, nine, – was hidden by Debbie (Rebecca Ryan, 16) at a pal’s home just down the road.
Missing children are a form of entertainment.
DAILY EXPRESS: “MUM: ‘I ALWAYS KNEW WHERE SHANNON WAS’”
The mother of kidnap girl Shannon Matthews has allegedly told police: “I knew where she was, right from day one.”
And the McCanns..?
A spokesman for the McCanns confirmed they had received approaches from “people purporting to be members of Shannon’s family” for donations from the Find Madeleine Fund, but said it had been decided not to get involved.
But the McCanns did get involved.
Gerry and Kate were “deeply concerned” at the plight of Shannon’s family. Kate, 39, said: “My heart goes out to them. We always hoped and prayed that no other family would have to suffer like we have.”
And singer Leona Lewis seized the moment to make an appeal.
THE SUN: “’Family’ beg from McCanns”
Kate and Gerry McCann got a string of emails and letters demanding financial help to find Shannon, nine. One man even turned up on their doorstep claiming he represented her family.
Karen Matthews has seven children by five men. Which man was it who turned up?
A source close to the couple said: “Kate and Gerry were getting ready to go to church. He opened the door to find this man who basically demanded cash.
“Gerry was stunned. It was as if he thought he was just going to pull out a cheque book.
“When he explained that the fund is governed by trustees who approve all expenditure, the man got annoyed and said, ‘But I’ve driven all the way from Dewsbury.’
“Kate and Gerry found it quite disturbing. They didn’t even know if these people were who they said they were, and what the cash would actually be used for.”
DAILY MAIL: “Did Shannon’s mother invent kidnap to make money… and base it on TV drama Shameless?”
Well…
It was revealed that Miss Matthews had wanted to leave 22-year-old fishmonger Craig Meehan and had spoken to his uncle, Michael Donovan, 39, who offered her a place to stay. She has denied having an affair with Donovan.
When he allegedly picked up Shannon on February 19, Miss Matthews is said to have “bottled it” and reported Shannon missing instead.
Which, if true, rather put Mr Donovan in an awkward position? But he did, allegedly, have plenty of room, a compact bedroom for Shannon – a room in an actual divan bed…
A source told the Daily Mail: “Her friends started asking her about apparent inconsistencies in her story. They asked her several questions, hoping she would dispel the rumours.
“Then, one of her friends said she had had enough and wanted to know what really happened. She put it to her that she knew right from the very start where Shannon was and who she was with.“At that moment Karen apparently broke down in tears and was shaking uncontrollably.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Shannon Matthews’ mother ‘may have copied TV kidnap plot’”
The Daily Telegraph understands that officers are examining alleged similarities between Shannon’s disappearance and a storyline from the Channel 4 drama series Shameless shown in the month before the nine-year-old vanished.
In it, the teenage daughter of Frank Gallagher, the head of a dysfunctional family, staged the fake kidnap of his youngest son, Liam, in an attempt to obtain a £500,000 ransom. All along, Liam was hidden a few doors away with a friend of his sister.
A missing child. Money. Reward. A kind of fame? A TV entertainment show or a TV news else?
It has emerged that police are examining allegations that people claiming to be connected to Shannon’s family asked for donations from the fund set up to find Madeleine McCann, the four-year-old who vanished from a Portuguese holiday apartment last May. A spokesman for her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, said they had received “a number of approaches” for aid from the Find Madeleine Fund from purported representatives of the Matthews family.
THE TIMES: “Karen Matthews ‘told friends she knew where Shannon was from start’”
Ms Matthews is said to have told her friends that as the hours after her daughter’s disappearance turned into days, “everything got out of control and she didn’t know how to stop it” because she was too ashamed to tell the truth.
Mr Donovan, a former computer programmer, is understood to have maintained from the day of his arrest that other members of Shannon’s family, including the girl’s mother, had known that she was with him.
THE INDEPENDENT: “Shannon’s mother arrested as abduction inquiry widens”
Ms Matthews’ cousin, Vicky Saunders, said the arrest had come as a shock to the community. “I was just shocked. I can’t believe it myself,” she said. “I was with Karen when Shannon first went missing, I went and helped, she was in a state.”
Ms Saunders described Ms Matthews as a loving mother. “She loves all her kids no matter what. It’s just upsetting,” she said.
She added that the community was “sticking together like we did when she went missing.” “Everybody is just all shocked and can’t believe it. I’m still there for all the family and the kids,” she said. “She knows I’m always here for her, being a cousin of hers. Unless anyone’s been charged or proven I’m still sticking by everybody. We’re still all friends on this street.”
Posted: 8th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (202) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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April 8th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Jo
I thought I already answered you about the European Parliament question but my browser had frozen. The short answer is “no”. I had no response to the same letter sent to 5 MEP’s and the President of the European Parliament. Ziltch!
April 8th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
tart
April 8th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Ciara - come join the fray on the other thread….
April 8th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
April 8th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Is that a collective “you”?
April 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
166
Pamela Says:
April 8th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Are you smoking crack for breakfast? You were dead wrong about Shannon Matthews and you’re dead wrong about the resolution of the McCann case. Perhaps a reconstruction 24 hours later, a week later, even a month, might have been of value, but a YEAR??? The PJ haven’t an effing clue. As far as the McCann’s “fleeing” for Brussels: maybe you’d like to check the calendars for when both events were scheduled? To tell you the truth, I’d be happy to learn that the interviews were scheduled when the parents couldn’t change their plans to stay in country–THAT would be a piece of good policework, and Lord knows we’ve seen precious little of it.
Give over woman…
April 8th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Are you smoking crack for breakfast? You were dead wrong about Shannon Matthews and you’re dead wrong about the resolution of the McCann case. Perhaps a reconstruction 24 hours later, a week later, even a month, might have been of value, but a YEAR??? The PJ haven’t an effing clue. As far as the McCann’s “fleeing” for Brussels: maybe you’d like to check the calendars for when both events were scheduled? To tell you the truth, I’d be happy to learn that the interviews were scheduled when the parents couldn’t change their plans to stay in country–THAT would be a piece of good policework, and Lord knows we’ve seen precious little of it.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I guess the other thread is the more appropriate place to discuss the McC case
April 8th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I think you could be right.
Have we been left alone?
April 8th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I think there may be more going on in the other thread.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
It is hard to keep u p with where the action is today!
April 8th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
159
SC46
Hi..
April 8th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
158
jo
+++
Oh god - surely not Gail Cooper as well - what a mental picture!!!!
April 8th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Hi Ciara
April 8th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Esplendor De La Forma
“Regardless of the “new evidence” which may be confronting the Taps7, questions from the interrogations have been made taking into account the psychological characteristics of individuals and groups allegedly involved. This grid psychological had already been developed for parents of the missing, and we were able to continue supplementing based on the comments silent during the months they were left “to their air.”
I believe the PJ has made a real exhaustive mental “picture” of each single one
April 8th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Stevo
Have you received an answer to the letter send to the president of european parliament?
April 8th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Listened to skynews….they are really crazy.There is no other words .
The net is severely closing.
Round up in may in PLD
April 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
151
Saul
So Piglet must be the pink one!
April 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Denzylle
Well if the thought pleases you…
April 8th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I will give them tramatic!
April 8th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
#
147
Stevo Says:
April 8th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The McScums are questioning the validity of a reconstruction. If it’s just for the police then they can’t see the point in it…
UNBELIEVABLE.
—————————————————
AGAIN…from the parents who would do anything if it might help find Maddie. Anything as long as it involves lots of media and parading around like a celebrity couple! They make me sick.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Martin Brunt gives a very credible impersonation of Eeyore , from Winnie the Pooh
April 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
148
Stevo Says:
April 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
They are concerned that Kate would find it traumatic to go back to Portugal because she hasn’t been back there since last September!
Whatever happened to “we’re not leaving Portugal without Madeleine?”
Whatever happenes to “we are going back for the 1st anniversary….even though our lawyers advise us not to….”?
Stevo
have you received an answer to the letter to the president of european parliament?
April 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Stevo
“They cant see the point !!!!!!!”
OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!
April 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
They are concerned that Kate would find it traumatic to go back to Portugal because she hasn’t been back there since last September!
Whatever happened to “we’re not leaving Portugal without Madeleine?”
April 8th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The McScums are questioning the validity of a reconstruction. If it’s just for the police then they can’t see the point in it…
UNBELIEVABLE.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
In the best traditions of Cockney Rhyming Slang, Clarence Mitchell is a complete “Martin Brunt”!
April 8th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
1.
141
SteveT Says:
April 8th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Listening again, Clarrie’s spin is that the McCanns would welcome a televised Crimewatch style program to help jog peoples memories and get some more leads. Some people might think he was looking to top up the fund.
=——————————————————————–
Clarrie looking to top up the fund……
April 8th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Brunt on Sky:
http://video.news.sky.com/skynews/video/?&videoSourceID=1261420&flashURL=/feeds/skynews/latest/flash/webheads_080408_1100.flv
April 8th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
139
brandon flours
Yes, but don’t spoil it - we all want to see their night of charades - it would make compelling TV. Let the McScumbags have their way. Televise it…it’ll be the best reality TV ever.