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Shannon Matthews’ kidnapper Michael Donovan emailed the Mirror after his arrest claiming to be a forensic psychologist named Wendy claiming the fiend had actually had ‘concerns for the child’
Michael Donovan’s lies about his role in the sick Shannon Matthews kidnap plot continued long after he was jailed with her mum Karen.
The fiend tried to blame others for him snatching the nine-year-old and hiding her under a bed in a bid to get £50,000 reward money. In a string of emails to the Mirror, Donovan pretended to be a forensic psychologist called Wendy who had carried out assessments on him after he was sent to prison in 2009.
And he told us Karen threatened to burn his house down unless he carried out the shocking kidnap. One email said: “Mainly the crime was driven by the reward money that both, (Mr Dovovan and Karen Matthews) would have used.
“The plan to keep Shannon was only for a full week and not any further but Karen Matthews got greedy. Karen Matthews would say that she has got good friends that will come and set fire to Mr Donovan’s flat and set fire to his car and she would say nasty things to Mr Dovovan.
“These threats then got to Mr Dovovan’s state of mind, he began to fear the worst and whilst he had Shannon Matthews he actually thought that Karen Matthews would tell her friends to set fire to his flat (whilst he had the child in his flat). So Mr Donovan had concerns for the child.”
Donovan, who used at least four different aliases, claimed the plan was to let Shannon go near Dewsbury town centre and then pick her up and take her to the closest police station to claim the reward. A close relative, who visited Donovan and spent hours on the phone to him, described him as “articulate” and not as stupid as was claimed during his trial.
The family member said: “Those emails were from him. That’s Mick, he used the name Wendy. The police got them too and looked into it. They told me, ‘That’s our Mick is that.’”
“He wanted his side to come out and he was hoping to write a book. He knew what he’d done.” Donovan was released from jail in 2012 but rearrested over a disturbance in Leeds. He was let out for good in 2016. Since then, he created numerous fake Facebook profiles, including under his new name Aiden Johnson.
He used that when he appeared in court last year and was given a sexual harm protection order. It is believed he had emailed several people using the name Wendy in the last year, including detectives.
But he insisted he never used a noose on Shannon as it was claimed in his kidnap trial. Donovan claimed he contacted the Mirror because he wanted to apologise for the kidnap plot.
The email said: “In my opinion, Mr Donovan was still threatened by Karen Matthews and not in the beginning when he was arrested but the threats came when Karen Matthews knew that the reward money went up from £20,000 to £50,000. Also, If Mr Dovovan had the chance to say something about Shannon then he would like to say a ‘big sorry’ for kidnapping Shannon.
“And he said that it was a silly thing to do with the kidnapping and Mr Donovan knows now that he has come to turns (sic) with what he got convicted of and he wishes that he could personally apologise for keeping Shannon Matthews held against her wishes. Mr Donovan hates himself and he lives the full remorse every day now.”
He said he had been “suffering from bad flashbacks and sometimes sleepless nights”. In another email he wrote: “I must say that Michael Donovan did not drug the victim or tire (sic) the victim up in his flat” He claimed he suffered from depression and tried suicide.
