Shannon mother 'will not appeal'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/bradford/7987743.stm

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Karen Matthews, who kidnapped her own daughter in a bungled effort to gain reward money for the missing child, has abandoned her appeal, her lawyer said.

Matthews, 33, and her co-accused Michael Donovan, 40, were both jailed for eight years last December for the kidnap of Shannon Matthews.

The mother-of-seven had been advised against an appeal over her conviction by a Queen's Counsel barrister.

Matthews' lawyer, Roger Clapham, said she had heeded the barrister's words.

At the end of the trial in December the judge Mr Justice McCombe said that, because of their low intellect, it was doubtful Matthews and Donovan could have planned and carried out the kidnap without the help of other people.

However, Det Supt Andy Brennan, the officer who led the investigation, said at the time the case was closed.

He said: "If new evidence comes to light, it will of course be investigated.

"We considered all the evidence, including what Shannon said, with the CPS and concluded there was not sufficient evidence to charge anybody else."