What did you make of BBC drama The Moorside? Did you end up feeling some sympathy for Karen Matthews?
Examiner readers took to Facebook to say that the drama about the kidnap of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews had left them feeling depressed and angry.
Tracy Fidler said: “I thought I would come away from this show despising Karen and all she’d done; however it made me sad and angry that society and social services had yet again failed to provide the obvious support this woman needed due to obvious degrees of learning disabilities and possible mental health issues.”
Mandy Campbell agreed, saying: “I felt the same. I think I believe her story about wanting to leave him (Craig Meehan) and I don’t think she realised how bad what she’d done was.
“She already had children that were taken from her care so why wasn’t anyone helping her and the children she still had with her?”
David Hirst said: “Whatever the truth is about Karen Matthews, the programme demonstrated the real need to understand vulnerable individuals who have been consistently failed by parents, schools, governments and society which is perpetuated from generation to generation.”
But Lawrence Maitland said: “She (Karen Matthews) looked into the cameras and begged for Shannon back. She knew what she was doing then. I don’t think she thought it all up for herself and I don’t know if it was for money but she lied blankly to the cameras and that’s bad enough.”
