Karen Matthews' duped ex-best friend says at last Shannon 'can get some peace ... trends now

The former best friend of a woman dubbed 'Britain's worst mother' has welcomed the brain cancer death of the man who kidnapped schoolgirl Shannon Matthews.

Michael Donovan, the uncle of Karen Matthews' then-boyfriend, held her nine-year-old daughter Shannon captive in 2008 in a plot to claim a £50,000 reward.

He has now died at the age of 54 at privately-run mental healthcare facility Three Valleys Hospital in Keighley, West Yorkshire, it was revealed yesterday. 

His fate has been described as 'karma' by one of the women who led local community efforts to try to find Shannon after her disappearance in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, 16 years ago.

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

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

She 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.

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

Ms Bushby has responded to news of Donovan's death by calling it 'karma', adding: 'At least Shannon can get some peace now.'

She was quoted by the Mirror as saying: '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 had been one of the women involved in the search for Shannon and later described 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.

She told the Mirror in 2016 many people living there 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 said: '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.

He had claimed to be a forensic psychologist named Wendy in a series of bizarre emails when attempting

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