The man behind the fake kidnap of West Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has died aged 54. Michael Donovan and Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, staged the nine-year-old's disappearance in February 2008 in a scheme to claim a £50,000 reward.
West Yorkshire Police said they were contacted on Tuesday 16 April and made aware of the death of a man in hospital in the Steeton area. The death is not being treated as suspicious, and enquiries will be conducted on behalf of the coroner. The Press Association reported that Donovan died after collapsing at a mental health unit.
Shannon went missing as she walked home on 19 February, sparking one of the largest searches ever conducted by West Yorkshire Police. More than 300 officers were involved, and her mother made an emotional appeal. Shannon was found by police in Donovan's flat in Batley Carr on 14 March, hidden in a bed drawer. Donovan and Matthews were jailed for kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
During their trial at Leeds Crown Court, prosecutors said Donovan kept Shannon drugged and imprisoned as part of the plan to claim the reward. Sentencing them, Mr Justice McCombie described their actions as "despicable", adding: "It is impossible to conceive how you could have found it in you to put this young girl through the ordeal that you inflicted upon her." The police investigation alone cost £3.2m.
Donovan was released from prison in 2012, halfway through his sentence, but was reportedly recalled on licence later that year after breaching his parole conditions. The Ministry of Justice said its involvement with Donovan ended in 2016 when his sentence expired.
Reporter Richard Edwards, who covered the story for the BBC, recalled the determination of the Moorside community to find Shannon, noting that after she was found safe, locals held their heads high together and made no calls for retribution.
