From Shannon Matthews and mum Karen to best pal Julie Bushby and stepdad Craig Meehan – where are The Moorside ‘cast’ now?
IT'S a story that gripped the nation.
In 2008, nine-year-old Shannon Matthews "vanished" on her way home from a swimming lesson in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Hundreds of worried neighbours living on the Moorside estate frantically searched for the youngster for 24 days over fears she had been abducted by a stranger.
But the nation was shocked when it emerged her mum Karen Matthews had teamed up with her partner's uncle to fake a kidnapping in a bizarre get-rich-quick plot.
The story has now been turned into a two-part BBC drama The Moorside, which concludes tonight with the shocking revelation Karen helped devise the twisted kidnap plot in a bid to claim a £50,000 reward from The Sun.
With Game Of Thrones star Gemma Whelan playing “Britain’s most hated mum” Karen Matthews and Sheridan Smith as her pal Julie Bushby, The Moorside drew more than seven million viewers with it first aired last week.
Here, KATE JACKSON finds out what happened to the people involved in the nine years since.
Victim Shannon
NOW 18, Shannon is living a much better life than the one she began.
She was found drugged and hidden in the base of a divan bed at Michael Donovan’s home in Batley Carr, around a mile from Dewsbury.
The court case heard that Karen had fed her the sedative drug temazepam for 20 months before her disappearance.
When police found her and asked if she wanted to go home to her mum, she replied: “No.”
After her mum’s trial she was put into care before being rehomed with a new family, with a new name.
Her grandparents June and Gordon recently explained how Shannon was taken from them to live with a new family.
Kidnapper Karen
THE mum of seven children — by five different fathers — was jailed for eight years for her part in the kidnap plot.
After her early release in 2012 she moved to southern England and reportedly changed her name to that of her favourite Hollywood actress.
Shunned by friends and family, Matthews, 41, has discovered religion and prays every day.
She told a friend: “I asked for forgiveness through prayer. I know I did something wrong but I’m not the baddest person people are making out. I am sorry for hurting people.”
Our exclusive pictures show her working in a charity shop a day after The Moorside aired.
Sporting long black hair, she was seen wearing a black padded jacket, tight jeans and trainers as she tidied a window display.
Teetotal Matthews lives on £25 a week in benefits and claims she cannot find a job because of her history.
She has also whinged about needing plastic surgery so people will no longer be able to recognise her.
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Kidnapper Michael
BORN Paul Drake, he changed his name to Michael Donovan after a character in Eighties sci-fi US TV series V.
Neighbours called him a “weirdo” and even his sister branded him a fantasist.
Uncle to Matthews’ boyfriend Craig Meehan, he had been charged with abducting his eldest daughter prior to Shannon’s kidnap but the case was dropped.
His IQ was so low that he was classed as mentally impaired.
Jailed for eight years, he was moved to a suicide watch unit in Wakefield Prison where cameras followed his every move and prison officers checked him four times an hour.
He was also assaulted, and at one point refused to eat, dropping to eight stone.
He was freed on license in 2012 after serving half his sentence for kidnap and false imprisonment.
When is Moorside episode 2 on BBC1?
Boyfriend Craig
WHILE not involved in the plot to kidnap Shannon, Matthews’ lowlife boyfriend was jailed for 20 weeks in 2008 after police discovered a stash of child abuse images on his computer during the investigation.
The convicted paedophile is Michael Donovan’s nephew and has since relocated five times.
His first move took him to Keighley, West Yorks, but after being attacked he tried another address in the town before heading to a village near Huddersfield. Horrified locals again drove him out and he returned to Dewsbury.
Recently it was revealed the 30-year-old was living 100 yards from a primary school and was attacked by an angry father.
He was pictured earlier this week, above right, buying booze and cigarettes and going into the bookies.
Friend Julie Bushby
JULIE was the driving force behind the community searches and vigils for Shannon.
The mum of three, pictured, lives ten doors down from the Matthews’ former home on the Moorside estate.
She works in a shop and keeps ducks and geese, as portrayed in the mini-series, as well as a lizard and a German shepherd.
Julie and Natalie Brown were the people who forced Karen to confess while they sat together in a police car. She promised Karen she would always be her friend and regularly visited her in prison.
Despite Karen cutting Julie out of her life a month before she came out of jail, Julie generously said this week: “Even till this day, I class myself as a friend to Karen.”
The drama has been criticised by some of Karen’s friends and family, although the BBC admitted some were paid “small fees” to co-operate.
Neighbour Natalie
IT was Natalie who first became suspicious about Karen. She told police liaison officer Christine Freeman that “something’s not right”.
During the search the mum of six, pictured in 2008, became the “nominated babysitter” and looked after the kids whose parents were out looking for Shannon.
In the same year Shannon disappeared, Natalie, 35, left her husband and moved to nearby Huddersfield.
Now Natalie Murray, she stopped speaking to Karen before the confrontation in the police car and believes Karen would blank her if their paths ever crossed again.
She said: “I don’t think she will ever speak to me again. Her attitude towards me changed as soon as she realised I knew something wasn’t right.
“I don’t like what she did, I don’t agree with it and we will never be friends again.
“But I would love to just sit down with her and ask: ‘Why did you do it?”
The Sun reporter
ANYONE walking into Karen Matthews’ dirty home was met by messy piles of clothes. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in months, writes Sun journalist Alastair Taylor, below, who reported from the Moorside estate in 2008.
For the three-and-a-half weeks Shannon was missing, Karen regularly slouched around in the same stained anorak.
But she could turn on the crocodile tears when required, playing the shattered mum and urging: “Please find my little princess.”
One incident really sticks in my mind. When she went to buy Easter eggs for her children, she didn’t bother getting one for Shannon.
A stunned police officer had to remind her: “Shannon is missing, she’s not dead. Perhaps you should get one for her as well.”
When The Sun offered £20,000 for help in tracing Shannon — later increased to £50,000 — she clasped my hand and said: “I’m so grateful for all you are doing. It’s a fantastic gesture and means so much. We just hope it brings her back.”
The sickening truth was Karen was only interested in the money and Shannon just a pawn in her deceitful game.
What you won't see
WHILE writer Neil McKay stuck closely to real events, those involved at the time remember a less sanitised version of the Moorside estate.
One source said: “Many were living off benefits. Women would wander to the shops in their dressing gowns, while one man opened the door to a reporter in just his underpants and an electronic tag, and carried out an interview like that.
“One journalist left her keys in her car while she jumped out for a few minutes. She assumed it would be safe as there were police officers just yards away, but within seconds a lad had jumped in and driven it into some bollards.”
The source added: “During the hunt, Karen Matthews was given vouchers for food by a supermarket chain but was spotted coming out with a load of booze.
“And when locals guzzled the champagne sent in by a supermarket to celebrate Shannon’s discovery, one of them rang up to ask for more.”
At the time, one roadsweeper described the area as “like Beirut, only worse”. The resulting fury meant he had to move.
The housing estate
THE Dewsbury Moor area where the estate sits has become more ethnically diverse in the past eight years, with women as likely to be seen in a hijab as a shell suit.
Despite occasional sightings of abandoned fridges and household rubbish in gardens, the district appears tidier.
While the shutters had come down for the final time on some businesses, including the local takeaway, others are making the most of the rejuvenated area.
Barry Singh, 56, a furniture warehouse owner, said: “I moved in here six years ago. Before that this warehouse and the garage opposite were derelict.
“People used to use the area to smoke joints but now we have helped to make it a better area for local people.”
Shopkeeper Saj Yassin, 45, said at the time of Shannon’s case, Dewsbury Moor was a “no-go area for Asians”.
He added: “It wasn’t multicultural and people didn’t want to live there.
“Now I think there is a good relationship between Asians and the white working class, which has helped to improve the area.”
When is The Moorside next on BBC and what is it about?
Episode two of The Moorside aired tonight at 9pm.
For anyone who missed it, you can catch up now using BBC's iPlayer.
The Moorside retells the story of the manhunt from the perspective of the friends of Karen Matthews.
Sheridan Smith plays neighbour Julie Bushby, the chair of the Moorside residents and tenants association that helped trace Shannon.