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'She said disturbing things': Karen Matthews' liaison officer reveals what notorious mum was like in private
The family liaison officer assigned to work alongside Karen Matthews in 2008 has revealed what she was really like after daughter Shannon went missing.
It's been 17 years since Shannon Matthews disappeared from her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. As she was just nine years old at the time, Shannon's case was compared to that of Madeleine McCann, and sparked nationwide coverage.
However, it was alleged that Karen had conspired alongside Michael Donovan (who was Karen's partner's uncle), to stage a kidnapping and collect the reward money. Both Karen and Michael were sentenced to eight years in prison, after being found guilty of kidnap and false imprisonment, as well as perverting the course of justice.
And it now appears there were moments where suspicions were aroused around Karen's behaviour, with new two-part Prime Video documentary The Hunt for Shannon Matthews featuring new testimony from people who were close to the case.
Christine Freeman, a former family liaison officer for West Yorkshire Police, revealed in the series that she had her suspicions piqued when she observed the mum of seven's strange behaviour.
'I constantly said to her, 'Karen, we need to prepare for the worst.' I don't think Karen had any grasp at all of the possible dangers for her child,' Christine said. 'She just doesn't seem aware of it. She didn't seem willing to accept the possibility.
'It was hard to control your own emotions that you were feeling. But there will come a time where I will have to bring Karen really down to earth by telling her something terrible has happened to her daughter.'
While Christine said she initially had 'sympathy' for Karen, it was a press conference around Mother's Day in 2008 which led to uncertainty.
'She came out with some things that were quite disturbing really,' Christine continued, adding that Karen reportedly said she thought that it was someone she knew that had taken Shannon.
'That is the first time anything like that had been suggested,' Christine said. 'After that press conference, I said, 'What do you mean somebody who knows you?'
'She said, 'Oh, just anybody.' She kind of brushed it off – 'I don't mean anybody in particular, I just mean somebody who might know us.'"
Shannon was found tied and sedated in Michael's house, 24 days after she was initially reported missing.
It's not the first time that Christine has spoken about her suspicions. In an interview with The Telegraph in 2017, Christine recalled: 'When I got to the house Karen and her boyfriend, Craig Meehan, were playing on an X-Box. Karen hardly looked up," she said. "After a few minutes my phone rang. I had a pop song as my ringtone and Karen got up and started dancing to it. I remember thinking 'this is really odd'."
The Hunt for Shannon Matthews, a two-part documentary series, is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video now
Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper's Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
