Full plot to 'kidnap' Shannon Matthews explained as detective issues direct message

The disappearance of Shannon Matthews has seen renewed interest this week following a Prime Video documentary on the topic this past weekend.

Matthews went missing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire over 17 years ago in an incident that became national news and is covered in a new documentary, The Hunt for Shannon Matthews.

The search for the nine-year-old led to the largest number of police officers in Yorkshire on one case since the Yorkshire Ripper, and the search went on for a full month.

This was, however, until Matthews was discovered to have never been truly ‘missing’ at all.

After the little girl was found, it sound transpired that the family had faked the kidnapping for a bizarre reason, accelerating the story from a vaguely national UK talking point to a media frenzy.

One of the detectives involved in the case spoke in an exclusive interview with LADbible about the aspect of the case that still keeps him up at night, as well as directing a message to Shannon.

Shannon Matthews was 'kidnapped' over 17 years ago (BBC)

Why Shannon Matthews' family faked ‘kidnapping’ her

The plot was led by Shannon's mum, Karen Matthews, and her boyfriend’s uncle, Michael Donovan.

After almost a month of police searching for Shannon, she was found by police in the base of a divan bed at Donovan’s flat, having been restrained by a homemade leash.

It has since come out that both Karen and Donovan faked the kidnapping in order to try and swindle the public and police out of money, having allegedly been inspired by the attention the Madeleine McCann case had garnered.

The plan had been for the pair to wait until the police’s promised reward for her safe return got high enough and they would then have Donovan claim he ‘found her’ and take home the money.

Nick Townsend, a detective who worked on the case, spoke about how Donovan hadn’t been on their radar until it was discovered he had children taken into care and had abducted one of his own children.

Karen Matthews was sentenced to eight years in prison and after serving half of her sentence, she was granted a new identity (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The message a detective in the case has for Shannon, and what happened to Karen Matthews and Michael Donovan

After being caught red handed both Matthews and Donovan initially denied responsibility.

In the end, however, both were sentenced to eight years in prison for kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the court of justice. They both served half of their sentences, with Karen being granted a new identity.

Townsend, a detective on the case who spoke in the Prime Video documentary, spoke to LADbible in an exclusive interview.

As well as revealing the signs investigators missed that Karen was behind it, Townsend issued a message straight to Shannon.

The nine-year-old, who is now 26, was taken into care along with her siblings after her disappearance, with Townsend saying: “I’ve never seen Shannon – obviously, once we’d rescued her from the flat, we convoyed her to Dewsbury police station, we were with her in the office for half an hour or so just drawing and colouring in.

“Then the social services arrived and whisked her off and I never saw her again. People have sort of dismissed this inquiry as ‘an elaborate game of hide and seek’ but Shannon was still a victim. She wasn’t a part of this conspiracy; she was still a victim.

“I just hope that really, she’s been given a chance for a better life and that she’s made something out of herself, hopefully.”

The Hunt for Shannon Matthews is available to stream on Prime Video in The UK & Ireland.