The disappearance of Shannon Matthews.

[Pebbledashery]

Is anyone watching this on c5 shortly? I'm fascinated by how brazen her Mother was. Poor, poor child :(

@MissEliza that's exactly what I thought. I assumed it was a self appointed role.

I remember there being community wardens around the estate i worked on. They were a bit of a New Labour thing along with SureStart centres.

Thanks! Not sure how she thought that would work. Even if the plan hadn’t tanked.

@Supersimkin2

Thanks! Not sure how she thought that would work. Even if the plan hadn’t tanked.

I can't work this out either.

Perhaps they were waiting until they had loads of money and then Shannon would mysteriously be found, hoping the police wouldn't ask where.

But stupid is, as stupid does

I thought the community worker said at first that she was a teacher in the school. .

I'm beginningto wonder if the money was the motive. Didn't Julie say at the end that she didn't believe it was actually about the money?

How come Donovan seemed to remain under the radar for so long?

@absolutetelynotfabulous She said she helped with reading in the school.

I think people watch these things because human behaviour is fascinating.

My adult (adopted) DD has attachment disorder and learning disabilities, and Karen Matthews’ behaviour reminds me a lot of her. I see that emptiness in her eyes; the lack of consideration for the consequences; the distraction from what she’s done, onto what someone else is doing.

Karen spent time in a children’s home, did she not?

I am not in any way condoning anything Karen has, or continues to do, and nor do I with DD’s behaviour, but I know that DD does not have the capacity to be left to make her own decisions. Friendships need to be carefully monitored. This is for her own protection as much as anyone else’s. I very much doubt that Karen had that level of support and supervision, in fact her story shows that she didn’t.

I truly hope that Shannon is building a life for herself and has, and will continue to have, the support she needs to do so.

That Karen allegedly lives (once again) with a paedophile suggests that there is no support in place for her, to stop her reoffending in any way, and she clearly doesn’t have the skills to make appropriate decisions.

@Imissmoominmama That's a really interesting insight. I'm glad your DD has a loving, supportive family behind her keeping her on the right track. If Karen Matthews does, in fact, have similar conditions, it's terribly tragic for her and her family that she's never had appropriate support.

@rc22- the lack of empathy is frightening in DD, although she’s learnt when it’s appropriate to try, and she does try for the most part, but doesn’t really understand why, other than it gets a good response from other people. I could see that lack of empathy in Karen too.

She also copies what has worked for other people, which draws comparisons with Karen and the coverage of the Madeleine McCann case.

@HaveANiceFuckingDay

So could she potentially have more children then ? Or would the child immediately gets taken off her ?

I would think care proceedings would ensue, failure to protect as a massive red flag.

I cried for Megan, her friend from school.
How that must have affected her, her whole life! Her best friend just taken away in such tragic circumstances. Not allowed to see her :(

Yes that was very sad for her friend ,they also inferred they thought someone else was involved as they didn't think Karen and the " Uncle" had the intelligence to carry out the plan and get away with it for so long
I wonder why Shannon didn't go to her Dad,s ?

Preparing to be flamed, but just being honest here.
I find it hard to get truly worked up about this. Aside from already being known to social services / poor treatment of their kids- this is obviously an issue.
But essentially she told her daughter to hide in a bedroom in the stupid attempt to get attention and money from pretending she’d disappeared. Of course that wasn’t enjoyable or pleasant. But...
There seems to be more hatred for Karen than actual murderers.
What is it specifically that gets people so angry?

She didn't just place Shannon in a bedroom though ,she drugged her and had been drugging her for at least 20 months and did Shannon know the uncle ? I know she had met him but she was kept in a house with someone for three weeks drugged and with rope around her so she couldn't leave ,and even before all of that Karen didn't sound like a particularly caring mother ,in reports I have read she often couldn't be bothered. buying nappies for the younger children and just tied plastic bag,s around them I can't imagine living in that house was particularly pleasent for any child .

@SweatyBetty20

One of my friend’s neighbours worked on the Yorkshire Ripper cases and never shuts up about it. Some people can’t help it, it seems.

I live near someone who worked on that case too, and he goes on and on about it.

DollyParton2 she didn't just tell her to hide in a bedroom, she was drugged and tied up. They found a huge noose hanging from the loft hatch that she had been tied to.
Hair samples also showed that she had been drugged for many months, not just the three weeks she had been missing.

Bless her. I really hope wherever she and her siblings are now, they are happy and secure.

I watched this. I do think it's incredible the police didn't find her earlier. Yes everyone had their suspicions but why weren't they acted upon with more rigor? She was found one mile from home with an extended family member. I cant help feeling better detective work would have revealed this sooner

One of the reasons they gave was that ,Karen herself was one of seven siblings / half siblings ,Karen had ,had seven children with five ( I think) father's ,so the extended family would have been huge ,and the uncle was the uncle of Craig ,Karen's then partner

@x2boys

Yes that was very sad for her friend ,they also inferred they thought someone else was involved as they didn't think Karen and the " Uncle" had the intelligence to carry out the plan and get away with it for so long I wonder why Shannon didn't go to her Dad,s ?

The documentary said she didn't have a consistent or loving relationship with her birth father. I also read somewhere she called Craig & his Uncle Dad as if she got confused by who her Dad was, which I thought was another incredibly sad element

I hope that Shannon & her siblings now have safe living environments and that Shannon got professional help to overcome the trauma

She may have had an impoverished life and I appreciate she wasn't well educated but let's not make Karen Matthews the victim here ,lots of people who are impoverished somehow manage not to neglect and abuse their children.

There's a difference between saying that she was a victim in this and pointing out that she's not playing with a full deck. It's easy to say, "she's pure evil" and difficult to acknowledge that she's behaving like the rest of us would if we'd had her life.

I watched this - I have watched a similar programme in the past, and the thing that struck me most was how heartbreaking it must have been for all the people on the estate who put their lives on hold, and put so much time and effort into the search for Shannon, only to find that Karen had been behind it.

The solidarity and community spirit was amazing, and it must have felt like a betrayal of all of that.

I feel sorry for poor Shannon and her siblings. They have been given lifelong anonymity and are trying to live their lives but every so often these stupid documentaries pop up to remind them of all this crap.

Lots of people grow up in these circumstances and don't put their children through such an ordeal.