divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/49712?ns=guardianpageName=UK+news%3A+They+drugged+her%2C+hid+her%2C+then+waited+to+claim+%26pound%3B50%2C000+rewardch=UK+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Shannon+Matthews+kidnap+%28News%29%2CCrime+-+UK+%28News%29%2CUK+newsc5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Martin+Wainwrightc7=2008_12_05c8=1129198c9=articlec10=GUc11=UK+newsc12=Shannon+Matthews+kidnapc13=c14=h2=GU%2FUK+news%2FShannon+Matthews+kidnap" width="1" height="1" //divpThe mother of Shannon Matthews was told she faced a substantial jail term yesterday after she was found guilty of kidnapping her daughter, holding her drugged in a relative's flat, then calling police and making a series of tearful TV appeals./ppKaren Matthews, 33, will be sentenced after Christmas with her co-defendant, Michael Donovan, 40, who was found hiding with the nine-year-old in his flat 24 days after she failed to return from a school swimming trip in Dewsbury in February./ppThey triggered a pound;3.2m police hunt, the largest operation by West Yorkshire police since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry./ppHaving acted out a plan which police believe may have been inspired by the search for Madeleine McCann, both were found guilty at Leeds crown court of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice./ppBefore sending them down, Mr Justice McCombe told both that they faced "substantial custodial sentences". /ppOutside court, neighbours and police condemned the cruelty and waste of resources caused by a scam aimed at stealing pound;50,000 in reward money for finding Shannon. Julie Bushby, chair of the residents and tenants association on the Moorside estate where Matthews lived with her partner, Craig Meehan, said: "She's let us down. The tears she cried when she did those appeals on TV and when she gave evidence in court were crocodile tears. As for Michael Donovan, he's just weird."/ppDetective Superintendent Andy Brennan, who led the investigation, said: "Karen Matthews is pure evil. She started deceiving those closest to her from the very moment that Shannon was kidnapped. /pp"It is difficult to understand what type of mother would subject her own daughter to such a wicked and evil crime. She is a manipulative individual who has demonstrated a remarkable ability to lie. /pp"Michael Donovan is an accomplished liar. Following his arrest and during this trial, he has attempted to portray himself as a weak-willed individual who only acted under duress. We have never accepted this as an accurate reflection of his involvement in Shannon's kidnapping."/ppThe pair will be sentenced after psychiatric and social services reports which are likely to include events before the fake kidnap. The trial heard forensic evidence that Shannon had been given the sedative temazepam and the travel sickness tablets Traveleeze, both used to drug her at Donovan's flat, as early as May 2006 and on at least three occasions prior to the kidnap./ppFor 24 days, the hunt for Shannon Matthews was a repeat of the search for Madeleine McCann. Detectives abandoned murder inquiries to join the team and hundreds of local people took part. /ppThen, to the astonishment of even the hardened murder specialist heading the police inquiry, the woman at the heart of it turned out to be the kidnap's organiser. "Get Karen down here!" yelled Donovan as police dragged him from his flat in Batley Carr, a mile and a half from Shannon's home, after finding the girl hidden under a bed. "We'd got a plan. We're sharing the money - pound;50,000."/ppAt that moment, in Leeds, a mobile beeped for Brennan, who was explaining the lack of progress to members of the police authority. "We've found Shannon," was the message from Detective Constable Paul Kettlewell, one of five officers who broke down Donovan's door./pp"Where's the body?" asked Brennan, a veteran of more than 20 murder inquiries./pp"No, we've found her alive and we're on the way to the station," said Kettlewell./pp"It stopped me in my tracks," says Brennan. "I had to get straight over to Dewsbury to see her physically to reassure myself." He walked into a room where Shannon was playing with some toys, and she smiled and said hello. Brennan recalls: "I smiled back and said hello myself. That was all that needed to be said. We'd rescued a kidnapped, nine-year-old child and police work doesn't get any better."/ppDuring questioning, Karen Matthews and Donovan came up with six contradictory explanations and were branded, respectively, a "consummate liar" and a "pathetic inadequate" by QCs in court./pp"Basically, we've had two prolific liars who are giving wildly different views. Which one do you believe?" says Brennan. "But in the end, they've either got to knock down our evidence or blame one another. Blaming is what they did."/ppDonovan's wild cries as he was bundled into a police van by officers - who found a restraining leash in his flat and a set of "kidnap rules" to keep Shannon quiet - were soon borne out by events. Shannon was offered the chance to see her mother after her rescue, but turned it down. For her part, Karen told the officer who broke the good news to her: "I like the ringtone on your mobile" - then went shopping./ppMatthews was arrested after breaking down during a routine car trip with a police support officer, and babbling that she had asked Donovan, who is Meehan's uncle, to look after Shannon as part of a plot to get away from his nephew, but "everything went wrong"./ppIn court, the prosecuting counsel, Julian Goose QC, made effective use of film clips of Karen Matthews' tearful TV appeals, which he contrasted with evidence from neighbours and police liaison officers of her nonchalance when the media were not watching. In the middle of more than three hours of evidence punctuated by sobs, Matthews was read details of how she laughed and joked with her boyfriend immediately afterwards. It was, said Goose, a cruel charade./ppDonovan's defence, Alan Conrad QC, was equally scathing, urging the jury to draw the obvious lesson from Matthews' style in both the witness box and during the long search for her daughter. After the court had watched a TV appeal where she begged a supposed abductor: "If anyone has got my daughter, my beautiful princess daughter, let her come home", Conrad turned on her. "You can play for the cameras and play for the court, can't you?" he said, to more tears./ppThere were major weaknesses in the prosecution case: no forensic evidence to link Matthews to the flat where Shannon was imprisoned, and police doubted that Donovan had the wit to carry out a kidnap. But there was evidence the kidnappers desired a reward./ppDonovan spoke of planning to release Shannon and then "find" her in Dewsbury market, and a copy of the Sun with the reward money edging up to pound;50,000 was carefully folded in his flat./pp"I believe that they were going to hold out until they got to pound;50,000," says Brennan. "And though there's no direct evidence that this case mirrored the McCann one, you can see the possibility. Madeleine was still fresh in everyone's minds. A young, pretty girl was being looked for in Portugal, and Shannon was a photogenic girl missing here in Dewsbury. You can see why two and two was put together."/ppDonovan evaded the police search for three weeks because of his web of aliases. It was an extended family member who alerted the inquiry team, after Donovan rang him to ask if he had been interviewed by detectives. "Yes," he said. "Well don't put them on to me," said Donovan. The man rang the police who were, naturally, instantly suspicious./pp"We'd just got Donovan on our list, at 18th in the tally of suspects, some of whom were family members but the vast majority not," says Brennan. "We'd have called on him in the next few days but after that call, he became Friday's priority. Friday was March 14, the day that Shannon was found."/ppIn court, Karen Matthews sprayed allegations at her family, particularly Meehan's relations, suggesting that they were the real plotters. She was just the chosen fall-guy, she claimed, because unlike most of them she had no criminal record and "would get off lightly" if the scam failed./ppBrennan doesn't hide his scepticism, but says: "If any evidence comes to light suggesting others are involved, we will pursue it. If we discover anything more, we will deal with it, you can be sure." /ppThe story of Shannon Matthews may not be over yet./ph2Stranger than fiction?/h2pWidespread rumours that an episode of the TV series Shameless might have inspired the kidnap plot were dismissed by the head of the police inquiry, Det Supt Andy Brennan. "I'd have picked up that straight away," he said. "I was born in Gorton in Manchester where Shameless is made." /ppAn episode shown a month before Shannon disappeared involved the fake kidnap of a young boy, Liam Gallagher, in an attempt to claim a pound;500,000 ransom. The child was hidden a few doors away from his home, with a friend of his sister. Links between the programme, which attracted 2.5 million viewers, never came up in evidence either during the trial or in statements to police. Neither did the case of Madeleine McCann, which dominated headlines for months before Shannon disappeared./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/shannon-matthews-kidnap"Shannon Matthews kidnap/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/ukcrime"Crime/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Iknt4lWZBAakm_U74vLQ6cTJXXI/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Iknt4lWZBAakm_U74vLQ6cTJXXI/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

A risk consultancy with close ties to the Lloyd’s insurance market is offering the world’s first insurance policy for shipowners covering potential ransom payouts on crew members who have been kidnapped.

A Somali minister in the semiautonomous northern region of Puntland says pirates have freed a Yemeni cargo ship and its eight crew members without receiving any ransom.

Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni cargo ship captured 10 days ago without a ransom, says a minister.

Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni cargo ship captured 10 days ago without a ransom, says a minister.

Bangkok’s airports are now open. The protesters have agreed to end their protests after the country’s top court ordered the dissolution of the ruling party which forced the Prime Minister to step down. Military troops are now guarding the airports. Tourists are advised to contact their airlines and tourism offices to check for flight schedules.

Last week protesters belonging to the People’s Alliance for Democracy have occupied Bangkok’s two airports demanding the removal of the corrupt government. The airport takeover has stranded more than 300,000 passengers in the country.

Because of the favorable court order, the protesters have declared victory. However, they vowed to launch similar protest actions in the future if reforms are not instituted. Excerpts from PAD’s statement:

“The PAD would like to call on whichever side that attains power to run the country to find a solution for the current problems and not to create conditions for another political turmoil in the country. Do not bring to power people from the Thaksin regime. Address the wrongdoings conducted by those in the Thaksin regime. Join with the people in making new politics a reality.”

The PAD would like to make the following pledges.

1. If a proxy government of the Thaksin regime is set up again or if there is an attempt to amend the Constitution or the law to whitewash the wrongdoings of those in the Thaksin regime, to benefit politicians, or to lessen the power of the King, the PAD will return.

2. From now on, if there is any government which comes into power but is insincere in its efforts to launch new politics with the people, the PAD will return.

Thaksin is former Prime Minister of Thailand who was ousted in a coup two years ago. PAD accused the last two Prime Ministers of being puppets of Thaksin.

Thai Politico interprets the PAD statement:

“The implication at the moment is that if the next PM is not to the PAD's liking they will occupy the airport again. Will the security forces now completely secure Thailand's airports so that nothing like this can take place again? Or will we see the army back off like scared rabbits into the corner?”

New Mandala believes PAD’s victory will be short-lived:

“The celebrations by the yellow shirts at Suvanabhumi will be short-lived. The parliament has not been dissolved and the government looks very likely to maintain its majority. The Democrat-except-when-you-can’t-win-an-election-and-then-a-judicial-coup-is-OK Party simply can’t muster the numbers. More blatant judicial or military intervention will be required to remove the government.”

Political cartoon by Sacravatoons

PAD is popular in Bangkok (but the airport takeover has made it less popular today). PAD is accused of having close ties with Bangkok’s elite. On the other hand, most of the rural voters are supportive of Thaksin’s party. Someone asked: What if the farmers staged their own protest against PAD and the urban elite by refusing to plant rice?

Stranded tourists are now recounting their experience in Thailand. Tuesdaynight narrates how he and his wife were able to leave the country by traveling to Malaysia and Singapore by land. He writes:

“Finally, I have to say, after all this, I consider us to be lucky. We found a way out of the country and it worked. I truly feel for the hundreds of thousands people whose travel was impacted because of this. More importantly, I feel for the Thai people who have yet to find some form of political stability.”

Despite the airport chaos, life in Bangkok seemed like normal the past week. Oneditorial writes:

“During the week, I called my family to get their views on this event. They did not seem to be thinking too much about what is going on. They still carry on their daily lives as usual. As a matter of fact, on the day I talked to my mother on the phone, the entire family was completely absorbed in watching a Thai soap on the telly, never mind the fact that the country is in a state of political turmoil. I just wish I could be as detached as them.”

Andrew Biggs asks if the airport crisis would produce positive results:

“Could it be that the pain, shame and anger we have all experienced with the PAD’s closure of the airport actually be heralding a new era of politics in Thailand? Could it possibly be that something good is going to come out of all this?”

An anonymous commenter criticizes the organizer of the protests:

“Im sure terrorist groups in South-East Asia have witnessed the complete lack of security at the airport and thus it would be a sitting duck for groups who plan terrorist attacks against planes and passengers. Bangkok as a major hub? I dont think so any more. What airline will want to fly in and out of Bangkok when the airports own security guards ran like scared children from their own people. Shame on Thailand for allowing this anti democratic group to act like terrorists and hold an entire country to ransom. Thailand is about to see the trickle down from this catastrophe and I pity the ordinary people who were not involved in this protest but could lose jobs.”

Gabriella Haynes describes the mood in Bangkok:

“The atmosphere in wider Bangkok since the protests started has been calm and business as usual in general. While the city’s residents don’t take the sporadic and seemingly random spurts of violence and the loss of life and income lightly, there is no sense of widespread panic and concern. International news agencies report airport mayhem and interview distressed and worn-out tourists stranded in the country, yet most Thais I have spoken to only express concern about the potential violence of the situation and concern for the economy.”

And let’s not forget that pro-government supporters are also numerous in the city:

“The PAD has ceased their protests for now but the capital has also been inundated with pro-government supporters, which means the situation has not been completely diffused.”

Flickr photos from Ronn Ashore and Willie Lunchmeat

Thomas Wanhoff from Vietnam is disappointed that tourists are complaining of missed flights while Bangkok protesters are fighting for some cause:

“This is just unbelievable. There are people in Thailand trying to fight for democracy (but of course is their understanding of), at least stand up against the corrupt government, and tourists are just complaining about missed flights.”

Pirates have released a Yemeni cargo ship without receiving a ransom after negotiations with local elders, a Somali official said Wednesday.

Pirates have released a Yemeni cargo ship without receiving a ransom after negotiations with local elders, a Somali official said Wednesday.div class="feedflare" a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=HcIAl8GO"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=evOGQs2S"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?d=50" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=od7dHm3N"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?i=od7dHm3N" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=WBaNAMsA"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=MbWvEvFH"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?i=MbWvEvFH" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/cnn_world/~4/yeItl7_RbGI" height="1" width="1"/

Pirates have released a Yemeni cargo ship without receiving a ransom after negotiations with local elders, a Somali official said Wednesday.img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/edition_world/~4/urHlN9ucA-w" height="1" width="1"/

Pirates have released a Yemeni cargo ship without receiving a ransom after negotiations with local elders, a Somali official said Wednesday.div class="feedflare" a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=ErYVAfS6"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=nHK9ecoI"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?d=50" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=UYYuhi8f"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?i=UYYuhi8f" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=hPyd4VCH"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=rn6NN7lU"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?i=rn6NN7lU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~4/00aIucCW2Cw" height="1" width="1"/