Shannon Mathews mother is a benefit cheat.
Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:15 am
THE shameless mum of Shannon Matthews has been raking in nearly £400 a week by cheating on benefits, The Sun can reveal.
Karen Matthews, 32 – accused over the abduction of her nine-year-old daughter – told officials she was looking after four of her seven children on her own.
But at the time that Shannon vanished for 24 days in February, she had been living for four years with her supermarket fishmonger boyfriend Craig Meehan, 22. He has been earning around £16,000 a year.
Meehan had bragged at the time of Shannon’s disappearance: “I earn the money. I put the food on the table. He was dumped by Karen following his arrest on child porn charges.
Government officials were last night trying to work out exactly how much Matthews had claimed in the scam.
The family own a widescreen television and had bought two computers. Social workers had given them a third for Matthews’ eleven-year-old son.
Matthews is facing trial accused of perverting the course of justice and child neglect.
She had claimed to officials last January that she was looking after Shannon and three other children – the eleven-year-old and two others aged five and two – on her own in her council semi in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorks.
Staff believed that no money was going into the household other than her benefits.
Matthews claimed to have had no child support from the fathers of her children.
She also said she had NO partner and was UNABLE to work as she alone was looking after the children.
A source on the Dewsbury Moor estate said yesterday: “It is absolutely appalling. She was claiming and claiming yet Craig has been working for the past four years since he moved in with her. It’s an absolutely shocking state of affairs. It was not a recent scam.
“Goodness knows what the money went on. They had computers and a television but the house was hardly luxurious.
Officials of the Department of Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs were checking their files on benefit claims last night.
Spokesmen for the two bodies said: “We do not comment on individual cases. But one fuming neighbour yesterday revealed she KNEW Matthews was cheating.
She said: “I reported her three times but nothing was done. She was putting in claims that she was living on her own but in fact Craig was there all the time. It’s been going on a long time.
Another neighbour on the estate said: “Contrary to what a lot of outsiders think, many people on the estate do work. We’re not layabouts.
“Yet she’s never done a day’s work in her life. She’s spent 11 years giving birth to seven children. But she’s recently been living with someone earning good money and is still sponging off the taxpayer.
Three of Matthews’ seven children are living with her previous partners. She is being held in New Hall Prison near Wakefield after being charged over Shannon’s disappearance.
The youngster vanished on her way home from school on February 19. Cops rescued her after breaking down the door of a maisonette in Batley Carr a mile from her home on March 14.
She was found hidden in the base of a divan bed.
Craig Meehan’s uncle, Mike Donovan, 39, is accused of abduction and false imprisonment.
Blimey what next .
That poor poor child . Lets hope somebody gives her a happy home. :-5
Karen Matthews, 32 – accused over the abduction of her nine-year-old daughter – told officials she was looking after four of her seven children on her own.
But at the time that Shannon vanished for 24 days in February, she had been living for four years with her supermarket fishmonger boyfriend Craig Meehan, 22. He has been earning around £16,000 a year.
Meehan had bragged at the time of Shannon’s disappearance: “I earn the money. I put the food on the table. He was dumped by Karen following his arrest on child porn charges.
Government officials were last night trying to work out exactly how much Matthews had claimed in the scam.
The family own a widescreen television and had bought two computers. Social workers had given them a third for Matthews’ eleven-year-old son.
Matthews is facing trial accused of perverting the course of justice and child neglect.
She had claimed to officials last January that she was looking after Shannon and three other children – the eleven-year-old and two others aged five and two – on her own in her council semi in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorks.
Staff believed that no money was going into the household other than her benefits.
Matthews claimed to have had no child support from the fathers of her children.
She also said she had NO partner and was UNABLE to work as she alone was looking after the children.
A source on the Dewsbury Moor estate said yesterday: “It is absolutely appalling. She was claiming and claiming yet Craig has been working for the past four years since he moved in with her. It’s an absolutely shocking state of affairs. It was not a recent scam.
“Goodness knows what the money went on. They had computers and a television but the house was hardly luxurious.
Officials of the Department of Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs were checking their files on benefit claims last night.
Spokesmen for the two bodies said: “We do not comment on individual cases. But one fuming neighbour yesterday revealed she KNEW Matthews was cheating.
She said: “I reported her three times but nothing was done. She was putting in claims that she was living on her own but in fact Craig was there all the time. It’s been going on a long time.
Another neighbour on the estate said: “Contrary to what a lot of outsiders think, many people on the estate do work. We’re not layabouts.
“Yet she’s never done a day’s work in her life. She’s spent 11 years giving birth to seven children. But she’s recently been living with someone earning good money and is still sponging off the taxpayer.
Three of Matthews’ seven children are living with her previous partners. She is being held in New Hall Prison near Wakefield after being charged over Shannon’s disappearance.
The youngster vanished on her way home from school on February 19. Cops rescued her after breaking down the door of a maisonette in Batley Carr a mile from her home on March 14.
She was found hidden in the base of a divan bed.
Craig Meehan’s uncle, Mike Donovan, 39, is accused of abduction and false imprisonment.
Blimey what next .
That poor poor child . Lets hope somebody gives her a happy home. :-5
