Karen Matthews ‘is blowing her money on scratchcards in her latest get-rich-quick scheme’
KAREN Matthews has dreamed up her latest get-rich-quick scheme – blowing her cash on scratchcards.
The mum-of-seven, jailed for kidnapping her daughter Shannon, nine, in a bid to extort £50,000 in reward cash, spends every spare penny on the National Lottery tickets which cost between £1 and £10 and have prizes of up to £4million.
Matthews reckons the lottery is now her best way of transforming her life.
And her gambling sprees are funded by the taxpayer because she doesn’t work and lives on state handouts in the south of England.
She even studies the cards’ “form” on the company’s website which gives information about how many remaining top prize pots each card has left.
Last night a source in her hometown of Dewsbury, West Yorks., said: “She’s hooked on scratchcards but has never won more than a tenner – and the winnings just go on more scratchcards.
“She doesn’t drink or smoke and spends most of her cash on junk food like burgers and the rest goes on the lottery.
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“She says a big win is the best way of getting out of the 'hell' of her life and being able to disappear.
"She wants to go live in Spain but needs to get some money together to make it out there.
“Karen has applied for a passport and just wants to disappear.
"She says she’ll never feel comfortable in the UK as long as she lives because she can’t avoid her crime.
“As usual, she blames everyone else. She is blaming the BBC for making the programme about her that brought what she did back into the public eye.
“Karen’s great at blaming everyone but herself."
Matthews used to rake in £400-a-week in benefits before she was jailed for her kidnap plot.
The jobless mum received child benefit, housing benefit, income support, free school meals for the youngsters and help with the council tax.
She lived in her own three-bedroom semi-detached house with wide screen telly, computers, games consoles and spent her cash on fast food, cigarettes and booze.
Our source revealed: “She had it good. She didn’t need to work because she had to care for the kids so she received a decent whack in benefits.
“She had a decent enough house too and all her friends and family around her if she needed them. So what did she do?
“She blew it all to try and get a pot of money.
"She’d have been hard-pressed to nick a tin of beans from the supermarket without getting caught never mind pulling off a plan to kidnap her own child.”
After cops rumbled her crimes, her children were taken into care, her family and friends turned their backs on her and she was jailed for eight years in 2008.
The shocking crime was made into a BBC1 drama The Moorside which was aired last month starring Sheridan Smith.
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