Shannon Matthews Mother arrested !!!!!

[kay1981]

They have arrested her on perverting the course of justice - which i think means lying to the police under oath doesnt it?

Is it at all possible that they knew where she was all the time?

Perhaps cahnnel 4 should now re-show the documentary on shannons family and see how it is received knowing what we know.

[JeremyVile]

Jesus. Do you really believe this shite Wannabe?

You are so black and white about things I actually find it hard to tell if you're having us on.

[Peapodlovescuddles]

I think the only good thing about this whole sorry situation is that IF Shannon's mother knew where she was the whole time and IF the whole thing was a money making set up then Shannon is probably less likely to have been abused, sexually or physically, although the emotional abuse cannot be overlooked. Shannon and her siblings will now, hopefully recieve the help they need.
As for Madeleine McCann and her parents, I think that leaving their 3 toddlers was abhorrent and stupid but I think that their setting up their find maddie fund was simply the actions of an intelligent and desperate couple, they knew that to have the best chance of finding her they needed publicity and resources, they had the know-how to set these things up. They might be doctors but they may not have had much spare cash, mortgages, pensions, NI, IVF, nursery fees, car payments etc all add up and most of these would have been bought before maddie went missing.

[MsHighwater]

My goodness but there is some awful middle class tripe being spouted on this thread. I'm pretty sure I'm middle class myself but I've been stunned at some of the casual bigotry displayed by some posters.

I wholeheartedly agree with JV's comment way back about being glad that we live in a society that can sustain those people who have more kids than they can afford, or who have different priorities about what to do with what cash they come by. After all, what is the alternative?

I find I am reminded of an edition of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring Jeremy Paxman. He discovered that his female forebear, who lived in Glasgow and was left widowed at an early age with young children and no income, was supported for a time by parish poor relief - the only form of welfare state that existed at the time. Her support, and that of her family, was summarily withdrawn after the board were informed that she had borne an illegitimate child.

That is what the kind of society that can't/won't sustain people with less conventional life choices would look like.

[Pennies]

wannaBe - not wanting to turn this whole thing into another MM debate, but your information is totally wrong. The money that was sent to the McCanns was not asked for. When people are in extreme situations a basic reaction of the public is to try and help in the only way they know how and that is by sending money (and we've seen it before here on MN when some of us have got into difficult situations). That's what happened in this case and public sympathy was so great that the fund is a considerable one.

The Find Madeleine fund money is ringfenced and can only be used for the purposes of finding her - so that includes PR, travel expenses, website maintenance, private detectives etc etc. It is governed by named individuals and has an appointed Fund Administrator to ensure that all transactions are transparent and accountable. To have done anything else with the donations would have been inappropriate. It has not been used for their mortgage.

However, your belief that the donations to the Find Madeleine campaign have been spent for personal uses does go to illustrate that Shannon's mum / stepdad could have felt that they too would receive money which may have been welcome given their financial situation and this could have been a motivation for the whole sorry affair.

[donnie]

some of you are bloody obsessed with this stuff. Weirdos.

[mousehole]

well said pennies

[mousehole]

ms highwater - I don't think that the view that 'having more children than you could ever hope to support and relying totally on the state to fund your lifestyle' is simply a middle clss viewpoint.

The subject is far to complex, however, the fault really lies with Shannon's poor education and lack of investment in dewsbury...dating back to the 70's when Shannon's mum was a child when the work ethic began to disappear.

It hard to break the destructive cycle. Its also hard to have a good fair benefits system which doesn't end up destroying the work ethic for some (hopefully the minority).

[CrackerOfNuts]

My mum said that on tv this morning they said that a woman had come forward and said that she was Shannons real mum and not Karen.

Did anyone else see that or did my mum dream it ?

[llareggub]

crackerofnuts...that is truly bizarre

[Greyriverside]

Pennies, are you sure about that? I thought that part of the point WAS to pay their expenses. It says so on the website you know.

[Pennies]

Yes, living expenses whilst he was on unpaid leave. The expenses in detail are specific to monies spent trying to find her, so that includes travel, possible childcare arrangements for the twins etc. I know that the accounts are public at the end of the financial year and I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't be people out there crawling all over the info so I would be gobsmacked if they've spent it on luxuries.

[Greyriverside]

ok ty Pennies

I haven't followed it really, but you can't avoid it entirely.

I did hear some guy Clarance mitchell? was going around claiming they were using it for mortgage payments, but there are always troublemakers. How would he know anyway? who is he?

[CrackerOfNuts]

Tbh I think my mum did dream it, cos I have googled and haven't found one single story relating to that.

[lemonstartree]

just HAVE to put in my 2p's worth here ( and I know that is completely sad)

I SO SO agree with wannaBe about the expectations of individuals who contribute sweet fa to this country's wealth bu expect to have what ever they want,

that is totally totally different to people who become unwell, or are made redundant etc who have worked and contributed.

i would LOVE o see the benefits system seriously tightened up - like in France where welfare is generous for SAHM, the sick and disabled but not available for people worming on the black matrket or 'just arrived' or simply to lazy to work.

and none of this has anything to do with Shannon Matthews. I have no idea what has been going on, all I do know is that a 9 year old child has no responsibility whatever her family has done and I so hope she gets the support, care and love she clearly needs.

[wannaBe]

no some of the fund was definitely used to pay their mortgage.

here

"A month later, they were again forced onto the defensive when Clarence Mitchell, their spokesman, admitted that the fund had been used to fund two mortgage
payments, adding: "The fund has always had the ability to assist the family financially if necessary."".

.

[JeremyVile]

But Wannabe....Why do you care? How can you manage such negativity towards two people you are only aware of due to the disappearance of their child?

[Tiggerish]

Interesting twist to the tale here

[moreJellothanJlo]

Shannon, meanwhile, has made it clear she would rather live with her foster parents and the cat police gave her than go home.
taken from that link

how sad is that

[krang]

Hmmm. Do I want to live in a society where only people who can 'afford' children are allowed to have them?

thinks for one second

Christ, no.

[Greyriverside]

Krang I think to myself "what kind of irresponsible person has kids when they know they can't look after them"

Then I think "but hang on. Even people who do their best are often poor just because that's how companies/governments want them to be. Do I think they should be forbidden to reproduce? Of course not!

Tricky isn't it.

[krang]

Not in the least tricky for me.

Having children is the most basic human right we have.

If only people who could 'afford' them could have them, well, that would mean my non-existence for a start.

I sometimes wonder whether people realise what kind of ugly road they are going down when they think that society would actually be better for these kind of fascistic reproductive restrictions.

[nancy75]

this case doesnt really seem to be about people being able to aford kids, more if they can be bothered to look after them.

i do think that in this case there is good cause for a doctor to at least suggest sterilisation (and no before anyone gets their knickers in a twist i dont mean anybody should be forced in to that decision)
after all this woman is 32, has seven kids (by various dads) does not live with all of her children and seems fairly unable to look after the ones that do live with her.

[Divastrop]

as i said before ,steralisation is not an option for all women.

do we actually know how old the children who didnt live with karen matthews are?

[nancy75]

on the channel 4 documentary she said she had her first at 20 - so the oldest can only be 12, and i think that 1 lives with her, so younger than 12

[lemonstartree]

Diva -they cant be that old - she is only 32!