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APPEAL REJECTED; Shannon's mum turns down appeal bid to challenge her kidnapping sentence.


Byline: EXAMINER

SHAMED mother Karen Matthews has ditched any hope of overturning her convictions for callously kidnapping her own daughter in a sickening plot.

Her lawyer has revealed that the woman who kidnapped nine-year-old Shannon Matthews in a desperate bid to claim reward money will not fight for freedom.

Solicitor Roger Clapham said his client would not be appealing against the jury's decision to find her guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment false imprisonment, complete restraint upon a person's liberty of movement without legal justification. Actual physical contact is not necessary; a show of authority or a threat of force is sufficient. The person falsely imprisoned may sue the offender for damages.  and perverting the course of justice In English or Irish law, perversion of the course of justice is a criminal offence in which someone acts in a manner that in some way prevents justice being served on either themselves or on a third party. Perverting the course of justice is an offence in common law. .

The jury at Leeds Crown Court heard how vile Matthews, along with co-defendant Michael Donovan Michael David Donovan is a voice actor for many TV shows and anime. He is most known for his voice on the series ReBoot for his voices of Phong, Mike the TV, Cecil, and Al. He has also provided the voice of Sabretooth for and Carnage for Spider-Man Unlimited. , the uncle of her partner Craig Meehan, drugged nine-year-old Shannon and hid her in Donovan's flat.

The pair, who plotted to claim pounds 50,000 pounds in newspaper reward money were both sentenced to eight years in jail.

Mr Clapham said the decision not to lodge an appeal had been made after advice from a Queen's Counsel Queen's Counsel
n. Abbr. QC
A barrister appointed as counsel to the British crown. Used when the sovereign is a woman.


Queen's Counsel
Noun

1.
.

The kidnapping case stunned the country when Shannon vanished last February..

She was last seen at her school in Dewsbury but never made it home to Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor.

It later transpired that she had been picked up in a car outside the school by Donovan and taken to his flat in Lydgate Gardens, Batley Carr Batley Carr is a small, peaceful residential area near Batley and Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. It is midway between these two towns along Bradford Road.

Batley Carr housed the mill workers of the area working in the mills of Dewsbury, Batley and Batley Carr.
.

When police raided the flat weeks later after a tip-off, they found Shannon and Donovan both hidden in the base of a divan bed.

The trial heard that Donovan and Matthews had plotted to abduct Shannon and then hoped that newspapers would offer rewards.

They believed there would be as much emotion as there was in the tragic case of Madeleine McCann, who vanished in Portugal and prompted a huge public outcry.

Shannon was to be freed and dumped at Dewsbury Market.

It has also emerged that Matthews has been transferred from New Hall women's prison, in Flockton, near Huddersfield.

The Prison Service has moved the 33-year-old to Peterborough jail.

It is thought that prison bosses hope to integrate Matthews better at Peterborough, given that it is 100 miles away from where she and Donovan committed their crimes.

According to the Prison Service website, Peterborough has no vulnerable prisoners' unit, where inmates deemed to be at risk can be placed for their own safety..

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CAPTION(S):

SHAMED: Karen Matthews, who kidnapped her own daughter Shannon for cash, will not fight for freedom VICTIM: Shannon Matthews
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Publication:Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England)
Date:Apr 8, 2009
Words:410
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