Huddersfield detective felt doubts about Karen Matthews' story
Dec 4 2008 By Andrew Jackson
Recalling Matthews’ admission in the car, Det Con Freeman said: "I got out of the car and rang my boss. I have got the power to arrest anybody I suspect of committing an offence but because of the scale of the inquiry, I needed to tell my boss what I was intending to do before I did it.
"I remember telling my boss what had happened and discussing what I was going to do next."
She said she got back in the car and told Matthews she was under arrest for abduction.
"There were numerous different emotions," she said. "Part of me thought at last we have got to the truth of the matter and part of me thought how really sad that this woman has had to keep up this pretence for this amount of time. I felt sorry for her."
Det Con Freeman said Matthews enjoyed the notoriety while the media focused on the disappearance of her daughter.
She said people often came up to her in the street to give her presents and one woman even offered to pay for her to go on holiday .
"There were people giving her presents for the kids and she just didn’t acknowledge it. It was just as if ’this is my right’ and I wasn’t happy with that."
She also recalled that Matthews "never flinched" when she saw unfavourable headlines about her.
She recalled another occasion when Matthews was told not to go back to her home because of threats and she just asked a neighbour on the phone to buy her some cigarettes.
Det Con Freeman said a child in the house played a joke on Matthews in saying that Shannon was back.
"My heart sank and Karen never even looked up and she said ’no, she’s bloody not’. I remember being absolutely astounded by this because how can you not even look up when you think your daughter might be home?
"I think I probably thought what’s going on here but then I kept talking to myself and saying ’come on, let’s not make a judgment, we are here to find the truth’."
Seeing her in court, Det Con Freeman said she thought Matthews came across as "foolish" with her denials.
"I would just like her to tell the truth," she said.
