Karen Matthews warned 'not to return'

Matthews has served half of her jail sentence Credit: Reuters

Karen Matthews, the mother who abducted her own daughter, in an attempt to claim a £50,000 reward, has been warned by her best friend not to return to Dewsbury.

Matthews has served half of her jail sentence for Shannon's kidnap and was due to leave prison today.

She has been dubbed 'Britain's worst mother'.

Julie Bushby was one of those who led the effort to find Shannon Matthews. It was to her that Karen Matthews finally confessed. She says people should allow Karen to move on with her life.

Karen Matthews was sent to Foston Hall prison near Derby after being jailed in January 2009 for the kidnap of her daughter.

There has been no official confirmation of her release, but Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the probation union Napo, says Matthews will be on licence for the remainder of her sentence.

  • Shannon was nine when she disappeared from her home in Dewsbury Moor

  • After a massive police operation, she was discovered 24 days later

  • She was at her stepfather's uncle's home, less than a mile away

Her cousin Susan Howgate told ITV1's Daybreak that Karen Matthews wants to take part in a lie detector test on The Jeremy Kyle Show as she continues to protest her innocence.

Emma Murphy has been to Dewsbury to find out what may happen next to Karen Matthews.