Britain's 'worst mother' Karen Matthews is 'over the moon' Michael Donovan is dead - and still protests her innocence that daughter Shannon's kidnap had NOTHING to do with her

This is Karen Matthews, pictured for the first time since the man she conspired with to help kidnap her daughter died.

Wearing a long beige puffer coat and with her face hidden behind a pink scarf, Matthews emerged from her shabby flat and shouted 'I'm innocent, leave me alone.'

She stared intensely ahead as she rushed away with her hands in her pockets.

Matthews, 47 became a household name exactly 15 years ago when her nine-year-old daughter Shannon went missing and a massive police investigation was launched to find her.

Michael Donovan, 54, had kept the schoolgirl in his council flat for 24 days as part of a plot hatched by her mother. He died from throat cancer earlier this week.

Speaking on behalf of Matthews, her boyfriend Paul Saunders, a convicted paedophile told MailOnline: 'She's over the moon that Donovan is dead. It's the best news she's had in ages.

'Karen hopes that he rots in hell, we both do. Donovan is scum, we hope that he had a painful death.'

He added: 'She was told about it in a phone call and she screamed with happiness. She was punching the air because this man deserved to die. Good riddance to him.'

Despite Matthews' conviction, Saunders insisted: 'She's innocent. It was Donovan who did the crime and kidnapped Shannon. She had nothing to do with it. People have got this all wrong.'

Saunders revealed that Matthews has not seen her daughter or her other six children for 'several years' and has no contact with the rest of her family.

He said: 'Karen has been unfairly portrayed as Britain's worst mother. But it's total lies. Donovan is the only criminal here.'

Saunders was jailed for five years at Oxford Crown Court in 2010 for sexual activity with a child and sexual assault.

He must sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

He and Matthews live together in the south of England and are believed to have been together for around five years.

Shannon and her siblings have been granted new identities and lifelong anonymity following a High Court injunction in 2020 and are kept apart from their mother.

Matthews and Donovan were both jailed for eight years at Leeds Crown Court in January 2009 and each served four years of their sentences before being released in 2012.

Matthews is said to be living in a town in the south of England, where she got Saunders after he worked as a handyman on her home.

Julie Bushby, who was portrayed by Sheridan Smith in a BBC dramatisation of the horrific case, has suggested Shannon 'can get some peace now'. 

She told the Mirror: 'At least now the taxpayer will save some money, and Shannon can get some peace and some closure.

'Every time a picture of him is shown it must hurt her - every time there's a picture of Donovan or her mother, it's alongside her picture. That's got to be hard to live with.'

Ms Bushby was one of the woman involved in the search for Shannon, later describing how the community 'paid the price' for Matthews' and Donovan's crimes.

She was among those who slept all night in a community centre with the lights kept on to act as a beacon to help the schoolgirl find her way home.

In 2016, Ms Bushby said  many people living in the area felt like they were partly blamed for what had happened, said: 'It's as if they punished us for what happened and killed our community spirit.

'There's only about a handful of the originals left on the estate - most have moved because they don't want to be associated with it.'

Donovan is said to have told a relative earlier this year he had been given just three to nine months to live after being diagnosed with Stage 3 brain cancer.

He was given the name Paul Drake when born but later changed it to Michael Donovan after a TV sci-fi character, before another recent switch to Aiden Johnson.

West Yorkshire Police was last year investigating him for the alleged possession of child pornography and he was placed under a sexual harm prevention order after appearing at Bradford Crown Court.

A relative of Donovan said: 'He had told me in the past that he had cancer, but I didn't believe him at first because he would make things up. I was told he had lung cancer which spread to his brain.

'I'm glad that his suffering is finally over. I feel sorry for Mick - he was a fool to himself.'

And Ms Bushby suggested she was not surprised by the revelation about the sexual harm prevention order, saying: 'It's clear he was still a danger to children - so it's good he's dead.' 

She told of still feeling it 'frustrating' that locals did not know at the time of Shannon's disappearance than Donovan was previously suspected of abducting his own daughter 15 months earlier.

Ms Bushby added: 'It would have been over in a breath if we'd been told that but instead it turned into one of the biggest police hunts ever.'

Donovan was pronounced dead on Tuesday afternoon after collapsing at Three Valleys Hospital, whose private operators Elysium Healthcare refused to comment.