A man who kidnapped a nine-year-old girl in a case that gripped the nation 16 years ago has died from cancer in hospital.
Michael Donovan, 54, kept schoolgirl Shannon Matthews hidden under a bed in his council flat for 24 days as part of a fake kidnap plot hatched by her mother, Karen Matthews.
Hundreds of police officers and thousands of locals searched for Shannon round-the-clock after she vanished as she made her way home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire on 19 February 2008.
Police used 16 out of the UK’s 27 “victim recovery dogs” for what was the biggest West Yorkshire Police investigation since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry.
Karen Matthews, a mother of seven, had put on a show of becoming tearful as she went on television to plea with the public for information on where her daughter was.
Officers eventually found Shannon alive in the drawer of a divan bed a few miles from her home. She had reportedly been drugged.
Matthews and Donovan, who together hatched the plan in an effort to claim a £50,000 reward for her safe return, were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice in December 2008.
They were each sentenced to eight years in prison the following year.
Donovan, known as Mick, was the uncle of Karen Matthews’s then boyfriend Craig Meehan.
He was diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer two months ago, and was pronounced dead on Tuesday at Three Valleys Hospital in Keighley, West Yorkshire, after collapsing in a courtyard there, The Sun reported.
Donovan had been at the secure mental health hospital following his release from prison in 2012, and had changed his name to Aiden Johnson, the paper said.
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: “Police were contacted on Tuesday 16 April and made aware of the death of a man in hospital in the Steeton area.
“The death is not being treated as suspicious, and enquiries will be conducted on behalf of the coroner.”
Matthews was also released in 2012 after serving half her sentence and given a new identity and new home in the south of England.
She was banned from contacting Shannon and her six other children, who were put into care.
All the siblings were granted lifelong anonymity following a High Court injunction in 2020.
The Ministry of Justice declined to comment, saying Donovan was no longer under its jurisdiction after 2016.
The Independent has asked the Three Valleys Hospital to comment.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
