Bizarre emails, a fake name...campaign to shift blame & a on to anyone but himself

The fiend tried to blame others for him snatching the nine-year-old and hiding her under a bed in a bid to get £50,000 reward money.

- LUCY THORNTON

MICHAEL Donovan’s lies about his role in the sick Shannon Matthews kidnap plot continued long after he was jailed with her mum Karen. 

In a string of emails to the Mirror, Donovan pretended to be a forensic psychologist named Wendy who had carried out assessments on him after he was sent to prison in 2009.

And he told us that Karen threatened to burn his house down unless he carried out the shocking kidnap.

One email said: “Mainly the crime was driven by the reward money that both (Mr Donovan and Karen Matthews) would have used.

“The plan to keep Shannon was only for a full week and not any further but Karen Matthews got greedy.

“Karen Matthews would say that she has got good friends that will come and set fire to Mr Donovan’s flat and set fire to his car and she would say nasty things to Mr Donovan.