The mother of Shannon Matthews was told she faces a substantial jail sentence after being found guilty of kidnapping her own daughter. (With video)
The mother of Shannon Matthews was condemned yesterday as "pure evil" and told she faces a substantial jail sentence after being found guilty of kidnapping her own daughter.
Karen Matthews, 33, conspired with her partner's uncle Michael Donovan, 40, to keep her nine-year-old daughter drugged and imprisoned for 24 days in a desperate plan to claim £50,000 in reward money.
Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan, the officer who led the investigation, said Matthews had "totally betrayed" her daughter and said her motivation for kidnapping her was purely financial. He branded her "pure evil", said that the "manipulative" woman began deceiving those closest to her from the moment the child was kidnapped.
"It's difficult to understand what type of mother would subject her own daughter to such a wicked and evil crime," he added.
The detective was speaking after Matthews and Donovan were found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of the kidnap and false imprisonment of Shannon and of perverting the course of justice.
The pair showed no emotion as the jury of seven men and five women took six hours to unanimously convict them following a three-week trial.
They will be sentenced at a date to be fixed, after the trial judge asked for reports.
Shannon, now 10, went missing on February 19 as she walked home from school.
On March 14 she was discovered in Donovan's flat, less than a mile away from her home in Dewsbury Moor.
