MATTHEW Donovan was an accomplice in the kidnap and hiding of eight-year-old Shannon Matthews.
Both he and her mum Karen Matthews were jailed for eight years, but released after serving only part of their sentence.
Who is Michael Donovan?
Donovan was born Paul Drake, the youngest of nine children, and brought up on an estate in Dewsbury.
Throughout his life he had learning difficulties, only having around half the average IQ, and attended a Hartshead Moor special school where he claims he was bullied.
From the age of 11 he began getting in trouble with the juvenile courts, his first offences were three counts of arson and shoplifting.
When he was 16 he was convicted of causing criminal damage and at the time ran away from home and never returned.
Three years later he changed his name by Deed Poll, naming himself after a character in the 1980s television sci-fi series “V”.
It was while undergoing psychiatric treatment that he met Susan Bird and they later married and had two daughters.
He claims she was violent to him and had a drug problem and they later divorced.
His children were later taken into care and it was when legal proceedings to try and get the girls back failed that he picked up his daughter from school and took her to Blackpool.
What was Michael Donovan's role in the kidnap?
Shannon Matthews disappeared on her way home from a swimming lesson at Westmoor Primary School, Dewsbury, in 2008, in a case that shocked the nation.
Hundreds of neighbours joined the search which cost West Yorkshire Police £3.2million and lasted 24 days.
Donovan held terrified Shannon captive at his dingy home for 24 days, while he and her mum plotted her “disappearance” to try and claim a £50,000 reward for her safe return.
They had planned to release the schoolgirl, ‘discover her’ then take her to a police station and claim the reward before splitting.
The nine-year-old was found tethered and drugged inside the base of a double bed at Donovan’s flat almost a month after she disappeared.
It later emerged Karen Matthews, who was going out with Donovan’s nephew Craig Meehan at the time, had devised the elaborate plot with Donovan.
Shannon was taken off Karen and placed in the care of her local authority after the trial.
She was given a new identity and is now living with a new family.
Where is Michael Donovan now?
On December 4, 2008, mum-of-seven Karen and Donovan were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
Both were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to eight years behind bars.
Matthews, who has been dubbed Britain’s Most Hated Mum, was released from prison in 2012 after serving just half her sentence.
A photo of Donovan appeared in the Sunday Mirror in 2012 said to be snapped outside a coffee shop as he watched children playing nearby.
According to the paper, he had been spotted "acting bizarrely" while sitting on a bench in a Leeds market place.
He had been spending six hours a day there and police picked him up after a request from parole officials.
Donovan was returned to prison but it is not known what has happened to him since.
Had Donovan been investigated before?
Donovan once had his own two daughters taken into care after allegations were made that he made them watch him have sex with prostitutes.
Fifteen months before Shannon Matthews’ abduction he was accused of kidnapping his daughter after picking her up from school in breach of a court order.
He drove them to Blackpool where he registered in a bed and breakfast under a false name before police were alerted and he was arrested after three days.
When he appeared at Bolton Crown Court charged with kidnap, the prosecution offered no evidence and the case was dropped.
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