BB FANS

Shannon Matthews hunt fund will go to children's charity

Thousands of pounds donated by wellwishers during the hunt for Shannon Matthews will go to two children's charities.

Trustees of the Shannon Matthews Fund made the decision at a secret meeting following weeks of speculation about the cash. Locals from nine-year-old Shannon's estate in Dewsbury, West Yorks, had wanted to use it to buy themselves computers.

Mirror

STEPDAD PORN BAIL BID FAILS

The ex-partner of the mother of Shannon Matthews failed in a bid to win bail yesterday when he faced a judge on child porn charges.

Supermarket fishmonger Craig Meehan, 22, was remanded in custody to appear next month in the same court at Dewsbury, West Yorks.

DailyStar

Prison plot to kill Shannon's mum

The hated mum of "kidnap" schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has a personal food-tester in jail - because other lags are plotting to poison her.

A warder watches Karen Matthews's grub being prepared after it emerged inmates planned to lace it with bleach, glass and ratkiller.

The officer has to check every meal before it leaves the kitchens and is taken to the mum of seven in her cell.

People

RATS INFESTING 'KIDNAP' HOME
By Bethany Usher

The home of "kidnap" victim Shannon Matthews is infested with rats, neighbours claimed last night.

But the nine-year-old's mum Karen refuses to let anyone in to kill the vermin, they said.

Karen, 32, (right) is in custody charged with perverting justice over Shannon's 24-day disappearance in February.

Amanda Hyatt, 25, who lives next door in Dewsbury, West York, said: "Rats pour out of every nook and cranny. Our kids are terrified." Hubby Neil, 35, added: "She won't let anyone clean it up."

Kirklees Council said no one had complained.

People

Shannon mother's ex on new charge

Craig Meehan has pleaded not guilty to all charges
The former partner of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews' mother has denied possessing an indecent image of a young girl on his mobile phone.

The additional charge was put to Craig Meehan, 22, when he appeared at Dewsbury Magistrates' Court.

Meehan is charged with possessing a photograph on his mobile phone of a partially naked girl, aged about 15.

He was remanded in custody until his trial for that and other alleged offences begins on 8 September.

Shannon, nine, went missing on 19 February and was discovered hidden in the base of a bed in a flat one mile from her home after a 24-day search by police.

Meehan is already accused of possessing 140 indecent images of children which were allegedly found on a computer at the home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, which he shared with Shannon's mother Karen Matthews for about five years.

It is alleged he possessed indecent images of children aged between four and 16, graded at levels one to four - on a scale where one is the least serious and five is the most serious.

Mr Meehan's uncle Michael Donovan, 39, of Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, has been charged with Shannon's kidnap and imprisonment.

He will go on trial at Leeds Crown Court on 11 November alongside Ms Matthews, who is charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice.

BBC

Shannon dad loses hostel bid

THE former stepdad of kidnap victim Shannon Matthews has blown his chance of living in a bail hostel instead of jail.

Fishmonger Craig Meehan, 22 — remanded on child porn charges — had been offered a place yet said he would prefer to stay in prison.


Then he changed his mind — but the vacancy had been snapped up.


Now Meehan, caged for his own safety, has been warned he could spend seven more weeks at Hull jail before trial.


Meehan denies having indecent images of children on his computer.


He is not accused over Shannon, nine. But his uncle, Michael Donovan, 39, is charged with abduction and false imprisonment.


Shannon’s mum Karen Matthews, 32, is accused of negligence and perverting justice.


The child vanished in Dewsbury, West Yorks, in February. She was found safe 24 days later.

Sun

SHANNON'S MUM GETS FIRST-EVER JOB..IN JAIL

THE mother of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has applied for her very first job while on remand in prison.

Karen Matthews, 32, is awaiting trial over allegations that she lied to police over the alleged disappearance of her nine-year-old daughter earlier this year.

Now Matthews has left prison staff “gob-smacked” by announcing she wants a job in the jail’s handbag and umbrella workshop.

She currently gets just £7 a week in unemployment benefit on remand.

That will rise to £30 plus bonuses if she lands the job. Mum-of-seven Matthews wants cash to buy a stereo for her cell at New Hall Prison in Wakefield, West Yorks.

But while prison chiefs are impressed by her sudden desire to work, they could turn her request down – for her own safety. Inmates are said to have threatened to attack her to claim a bounty of 10 Lambert & Butler cigarettes.

A prison source told the Daily Star: “It’s ironic that Matthews wants to work now when she had no inclination to get a job on the outside. Maybe she’s sick of scraping by on just seven quid a week.

“The bosses are happy she wants to work but worried she’d be attacked if she was allowed to mix with other inmates. Everyone is dying to get their hands on her.”

Matthews, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, is due to stand trial in November accused of perverting justice and child neglect.

Michael Donovan, 39, the uncle of her boyfriend Craig Meehan, 22, is accused of Shannon’s kidnap and false imprisonment.

Shannon sparked one of Britain’s biggest police hunts when she was reported missing in Dewsbury on February 19. She was found in a flat near her home on March 14.

Daily Star

Shannon: Bail release for sisters

THE two sisters of Shannon Matthews's former step-dad have been released from police bail.

Both Amanda Hyett, 25, and Caroline Meehan, 29, were arrested in April on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

YorkshireEveningPost