Karen Matthews’ duped ex-best friend says at last Shannon ‘can get some peace now’ after kidnapper Michael Donovan’s death from brain cancer aged 54 [Video]

04:22 EDT 18 Apr 2024, updated 04:22 EDT 18 Apr 2024

The former best friend of a woman dubbed ‘Britain’s worst mother’ has welcomed the brain cancer death of the man who kidnapped schoolgirl Shannon Matthews.

Michael Donovan, the uncle of Karen Matthews‘ then-boyfriend, held her nine-year-old daughter Shannon captive in 2008 in a plot to claim a £50,000 reward.

He has now died at the age of 54 at privately-run mental healthcare facility Three Valleys Hospital in Keighley, West Yorkshire, it was revealed yesterday. 

His fate has been described as ‘karma’ by one of the women who led local community efforts to try to find Shannon after her disappearance in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, 16 years ago.

Julie Bushby, who was portrayed by Sheridan Smith in a BBC dramatisation of the case, has suggested Shannon ‘can get some peace now’.