Kidnapped Shannon Matthews and her siblings will have lifelong anonymity

Kidnapped Shannon Matthews and her siblings will have lifelong anonymity after the High Court granted an ‘extraordinary’ injunction. 

The sweeping order prevents their new names, addresses and jobs from ever being revealed or published unless a court agrees, court documents show.

Shannon was the victim in a faked kidnapping by ‘Britain’s worst mother’ Karen Matthews in 2008, who had plotted to pocket a £50,000 reward.

The missing schoolgirl had been drugged, tied up and hidden in the base of a divan bed in West Yorkshire – 24 days after she disappeared.

Matthews and her then boyfriend Michael Donovan were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice. 

 Shannon Matthews was the victim in a faked kidnapping by Britain’s ‘worst mother’ Karen Matthews in 2008, who had plotted to pocket a £50,000 reward

Shannon, who will soon turn 22, and her siblings were protected by a reporting restriction order due to expire next year.

Sources told The Sun that all of the siblings, including Shannon, have been left deeply affected by the traumatic events of 2008.

It is understood they have legally changed their names after they were taken into care, and that the lifelong order will only be changed if the family revoke it.  

Nine-year-old Shannon was kidnapped by Matthews and Donovan, who planned to generate money from the publicity. 

They had planned for Donovan to release Shannon at Dewsbury Market, ‘discover her’, and then take her to a police station and claim a £50,000 reward. 

Karen Matthews (pictured) had planned for Michael Donovan to release Shannon at Dewsbury Market, ‘discover her’, and then take her to a police station and claim a £50,000 reward

West Yorkshire Police found Shannon alive at 12:30 on March 14, 2008, 24 days after she went missing. She was concealed in the base of a divan bed at a flat in Lidgate Gardens, and Donovan was arrested at the scene.

In November 2008, Leeds Crown Court heard evidence that Shannon had been drugged to subdue her whilst she was held.

Donovan claimed that Matthews had asked him to look after her daughter for several days and that they would make money from newspaper rewards. 

He told the court that she had threatened him with violence.

On November 27, Matthews denied having anything to do with her daughter’s disappearance and had been told to ‘take the blame’ for what had happened.  

In cross-examination, Julian Goose QC said that she had told police a total of five versions of the story and accused her of ‘telling lie after lie, after lie’.

On December 4, Matthews and Donovan were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.