Shannon Matthews trial Day 8: Kidnapped Shannon taken to park

Nov 20 2008 By Andrew Jackson

The jury heard that officers then asked Matthews why she rang the police on February 19, when Shannon vanished.

She replied: "It was just to cover my own back really because Craig would have found out."

The court heard that she then told detectives she did not know where Donovan lived.

"He just told me he lived in a flat," she said.

The officers also asked her why she did not tell officers looking for Shannon about Donovan when they were building up a family tree for her and Mr Meehan.

She said: "Because I didn’t know him right much."

And when she was asked why she did not say to the family liaison officers "She’s with Mick", Matthews said: "I wish I did now. I wanted to be strong for the children."

Referring again to the day Shannon went missing, she went on: "I could not go through with it in the end."

During the interviews, Matthews insisted Mr Meehan was violent towards her and she was frightened of him.

She said: "He punched doors. When he hadn’t got a door to punch he takes it out on me."

Matthews went on to say it was possible that Mr Meehan and his sister and next-door neighbour, Amanda Hyett, knew Shannon was with Donovan.

She also denied any interest in the reward money.