Karen Matthews should have got 20 years says cousin

Jan 26 2009 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A RELATIVE of Karen Matthews says she should have been given a longer jail sentence for kidnapping her daughter.

Matthews, 33, and co-accused Michael Donovan, 40, were both jailed for eight years on Friday for the kidnap of Shannon Matthews last year.

But Matthews’s cousin, Susan Howgate, said: “When I heard she’d got eight years I couldn’t believe it. I was expecting her to get 20.

“It’s disgusting. She should have got more for what she did to her daughter.”

Ms Howgate said she had discussed the sentencing with her son and mother and they all felt a longer term should have been handed down.

Shannon, who is now 10, was found at Donovan's flat in Batley Carr last March after being held there for 24 days.

Matthews and Donovan were found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

Jailing the pair at Leeds Crown Court Mr Justice McCombe said their offences were truly despicable.