Britain's 'worst mum' Karen Matthews is ENGAGED

Karen Matthews is ENGAGED: Britain’s ‘worst mum’ who faked her daughter Shannon’s kidnapping shows off her ring after handyman boyfriend who ‘can’t be bothered about her past’ proposed over Christmas

  • Karen Matthews, 44, got engaged to a handyman called Paul over Christmas
  • Matthews is notorious for faking her daughter Shannon’s kidnapping in 2008 
  • But sources say her new lover ‘can’t be bothered about her past’ 

Britain’s ‘worst mother’ Karen Matthews is engaged to a handyman whom she met when he came over to do odd jobs at her house. 

The 44-year-old was seen wearing an engagement ring on a shopping trip after her boyfriend Paul proposed over Christmas. 

Matthews is notorious for faking the kidnapping of her daughter Shannon in a plot to claim reward money, but sources say her new lover ‘can’t be bothered about her past’. 

Speaking to The Sun, a source described the couple as ‘inseparable’ and said the pair had been ‘walking round like teenagers’.

Britain’s ‘worst mother’ Karen Matthews (pictured in March last year) is engaged to a handyman (not pictured) whom she met when he came over to do odd jobs at her house

New love: The 44-year-old was seen wearing an engagement ring on a shopping trip after her boyfriend Paul (pictured) proposed over Christmas

Victim: Karen Matthews is notorious for faking the kidnapping of her daughter Shannon (pictured) in a plot to claim reward money

‘She is in love with him. Both of them have been walking round like teenagers,’ the source said. 

‘He knows who she is but he can’t be bothered about her past. He’s been staying over pretty often.

‘I just think it’s disgusting that anyone could want to be in a relationship with her.’ 

Matthews met her new fiance when he carried out odd jobs at her home in the South of England, where she lives under a new name. 

She and her ex-boyfriend’s uncle Michael Donovan were jailed in 2008 for the plot to stage Sharon’s kidnapping and claim the £50,000 reward for ‘finding’ her. 

Matthews made a series of tearful TV appeals for help in finding her daughter as West Yorkshire Police launched one of the force’s largest ever searches. 

Under arrest: Karen Matthews, mother of Shannon Matthews, is led from Dewsbury police station before a 2008 court appearance in connection with the abduction of her daughter

Guilty: Matthews (left) and co-conspirator Michael Donovan (right) were both sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2009 and released in 2012 after serving half their sentences

Faked: Karen Matthews in March 2008 holding her daughter’s favourite teddy bear as she feigned an emotional appeal for her safe return

Shannon was eventually found by detectives in Donovan’s flat, around a mile from her home in Dewsbury, 24 days after she disappeared.  

Prosecutors said the West Yorkshire schoolgirl was drugged and probably kept captive on a leash during her incarceration. 

Police described Karen Matthews as ‘pure evil’ after she was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice. 

Her then-boyfriend, Craig Meehan, was not involved in the kidnapping plot. 

However, he was separately convicted of possessing 49 indecent images of children on a home computer. 

She and Donovan were both sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2009 and released in 2012 after serving half their sentences.   

Shannon, then aged nine, was raised by a new family under a new identity and is now an adult.  

Former relationship: Matthews with her former partner Craig Meehan after Shannon was found alive. Meehan was not involved in the kidnapping plot 

Matthews (pictured in 2008) met her new fiance when he carried out odd jobs at her home in the South of England, where she lives under a new name

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