Shannon - Betrayed from Birth

On 19 February 2008, Shannon Matthews disappeared while making her way home from a school swimming trip. The 999 call made by her mother, Karen, alerted the police to the nine-year-old's disappearance and sparked a massive search across the north of England. 24 days later, Shannon was found, concealed in the base of a divan bed in a flat about a mile from her home in West Yorkshire. The truth that unfolded over the subsequent weeks horrified the public. It transpired that the abduction of the innocent girl had been a wicked plan dreamed up by her own mother in league with an accomplice, her stepfather's uncle, Michael Donovan. This in-depth book examines the horrific case of an evil mother who betrayed her daughter, deceived her friends and neighbours and wasted huge amounts of police time, at a cost of £3.2 million to the taxpayer. It looks at the background of the family, the court case and the aftermath of one of the most notorious descriptions in recent history.