Shannon Matthews report reveals social workers feared for her safety

Jun 17 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SOCIAL workers put Shannon Matthews on a child protection register six years before her sensational abduction, a report has revealed.

An investigation found that the Dewsbury girl and her older brother were judged to be at risk of sexual and physical abuse in 2002.

Kirklees Safeguarding Children Board yesterday unveiled the findings of an 18-month serious case review into the treatment of Shannon and four of her six siblings, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The review was ordered after the Dewsbury Moor girl went missing for 24 days in 2008.

Her mother Karen and Michael Donovan abducted Shannon and kept the nine-year-old hidden in Donovan’s Batley flat in a plot to claim thousands of pounds in reward money.

They are both serving eight-year jail sentences.

The review found that Shannon’s abduction “could not have been foreseen” by social workers involved with the family.

Her kidnapping could only have been prevented by taking her into care, a step which the report found was not warranted.

Investigators looked into the Matthews family’s contact with Kirklees social services, police, the NHS and schools between 1995 and 2008.

The report found that in 2002 Shannon, then aged four, and her six-year-old brother were placed on the child protection register because their mother had failed to protect them “from contact with individuals who posed a risk of physical and/or sexual abuse.”

Social workers believed Matthews was putting “her own need for relationships with a number of male partners” above the safety of her children.

However, the two children were removed from the register the following year after Matthews’ parenting improved.

Other findings from the serious case review include: