Shamed kidnap mum Karen Matthews is living a "lonely" existence and should be allowed to "get on with her life", a loyal friend says.
Julie Bushby spoke out as the staged abduction of Karen's daughter Shannon, then nine, is being revisited in a new Channel 5 documentary 13 years on.
Shannon disappeared from the family home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, in February 2008, and was discovered 24 days later, hidden and drugged at her stepfather’s uncle’s home.
Karen was jailed for eight years after a court heard that she planned the 2008 disappearance in an attempt to claim a £50,000 cash reward in a case that shocked and repulsed Britain, and continued to fascinate the public today.
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