Karen Matthews ‘made money in prison by writing dirty letters to an army of male pen pals’
KAREN Matthews is alleged to have made money from writing "dirty letters" to pen pals while she was in prison.
A source claimed while she was serving her sentence for the kidnap of her daughter, the mum swapped letters with various admirers who sent her money.
She was jailed following the kidnap of Shannon in 2008, and spent her sentence at at New Hall prison, near Wakefield, West Yorks, and Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire.
The source claimed she also had a plan to seduce a male guard in order to become pregnant and "take the prison service for thousands".
They said: "Her money came from male pen pal fans of hers who she wrote dirty letters to and they sent her money in return.
"Karen once said these guys were so thick and laughed saying ‘I’d only bother with them if they were rich.
"She got loads of letters from male inmates in other prisons too and became pen pals with a guy in Wakefield prison who was doing life.
"That place is mainly full of convicted rapists and child molesters but she still sent him loads of explicit letters about what she wanted to do to him.
"That was a bit rich because she was given stamps to write to her kids and she exchanged them for fags and the ones she did keep she used to post to pervs.
"She also had a plan to get pregnant by a male guard. I mean, as if anyone in the service would take a second look at her. That just shows how stupid she is. She thought she’d get thousands from the authorities if she fell pregnant."
The woman dubbed "Britain's Most Hated Mum" was thrust back into the limelight this week after the first episode of a BBC drama revisiting the notorious kidnap case aired.
She was seen the following day after The Moorside aired, working in a charity shop in another part of the country to where her daughter disappeared.
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The drama retells the story of Shannon’s abduction and follows the search efforts to find the young girl, after she went missing on her way home in West Yorkshire.
Matthews was jailed for eight years for her part in faking the kidnap of her own daughter.
The mum of seven, who has been dubbed Britain’s Most Hated Mum, was released from prison after serving half of her sentence.
Shannon was removed from her mother’s care and given a new identity - she is now 18 years old.
She disappeared on her way home from a swimming lesson at Westmoor primary school and hundreds of neighbours joined the search, which cost West Yorkshire Police £3.2million and lasted 24 days.
The nine-year-old was eventually found tethered and drugged inside the base of a double bed at her partner's relative Michael Donovan’s grotty flat almost a month after she disappeared.
They had planned to release the schoolgirl, ‘discover her’ then take her to a police station and claim the reward before splitting.
But her friend Julie Bushby has since disputed this theory, and has said Karen was trying to get away from her then boyfriend Craig Meehan.
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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