Shannon Matthews estate visit for David Cameron

Dec 31 2008 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

DAVID Cameron has been invited to visit Dewsbury Moor, by people angered by comments he made about the estate.

The Conservative Party leader said the Karen Matthews case was “a verdict on our broken society”. Matthews, the mother of “missing” schoolgirl Shannon Matthews, lived on the Dewsbury Moor estate prior to being arrested for her daughter’s kidnap.

Now her former neighbour, Petra Jamieson, has invited Mr Cameron to the estate for a cuppa.

The Tory leader described Moorside estate as a place “where decency fights a losing battle against degradation and despair”.

He labelled the community as having “pillars which are crime, unemployment and addiction”.

But Ms Jamieson said Mr Cameron should visit the estate before judging it.