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Where is the Moorside? Locals claim to offer £15 ‘tours’ of West Yorkshire estate where Karen Matthews faked Shannon kidnap

GHOULISH locals are apparently offering £15 tours of the Moorside estate where vile Karen Matthews faked the kidnapping of her daughter.

Some residents on the West Yorkshire estate claim they are taking those gripped by new BBC drama The Moorside on a whistle-stop tour of key addresses.

Locals are offering tours of the Moorside where Karen Matthews faked the kidnapping of her daughter
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Locals are offering tours of the Moorside where Karen Matthews faked the kidnapping of her daughterCredit: Barcroft
The cast of the BBC drama The Moorside, which stars Sheridan Smith as Julie Bushby and Gemma Whelan as Karen Matthews
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The cast of the BBC drama The Moorside, which stars Sheridan Smith as Julie Bushby and Gemma Whelan as Karen MatthewsCredit: ITV

For £15, tourists will be shown the Matthews family home and Michael Donovan's flat where nine-year-old Shannon was drugged and hidden in a divan bed.

The ghoulish tour also includes seeing the home of Julie Bushby - played by Sheridan Smith in the programme - and the community centre where she coordinated the month-long search.

The police station where Matthews was charged with the fake abduction of her daughter is also on the itinerary.

Shannon's mum Karen Matthews turned out to be behind her disappearance, concocting an evil kidnap plot in an attempt to get her hands on the reward money
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Shannon's mum Karen Matthews turned out to be behind her disappearance, concocting an evil kidnap plot in an attempt to get her hands on the reward moneyCredit: PA:Press Association Wire
Tourists can see the home where Shannon was kept drugged and hidden for almost a month
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Tourists can see the home where Shannon was kept drugged and hidden for almost a monthCredit: PA:Press Association
They can also see the Matthews family home
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They can also see the Matthews family homeCredit: Getty Images
And the community centre where locals mounted the search for Shannon
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And the community centre where locals mounted the search for ShannonCredit: nbpress

A resident on the estate in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, said: “I’ll show you all the sights. Give us £15 and I’ll take you round and show you where everyone lives.”

Asked if he’d had any takers, the man in his 30s revealed: “Me and me mate have taken a couple of people round.

“They said they’d come over from Leeds to see the street and that. There’s been quite a few people driving up and down so we thought we’d stop folk and offer our services.”

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BBC bosses filmed two-part The Moorside starring Gemma Whelan as Matthews on an estate in nearby Bradford.

The new drama retells the story of Shannon’s abduction and follows the search efforts to find the young girl.

The police station where Matthews was charged is on the tour
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The police station where Matthews was charged is on the tourCredit: PA:Press Association/West Yorkshire Police

Matthews, who was pictured yesterday working in a charity shop, now lives hundreds of miles away.

The mum-of-seven was freed after serving just half of the eight-year sentence she was given for her part in the kidnap plot.

Donovan, 48, was released a few weeks before Matthews.

When is The Moorside next on BBC and what is it about?

Episode two of The Moorside will air on Tuesday 14 February at 9pm.

For anyone who missed the first part of the show, 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.


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