Mother tried for daughter's kidnapping

LEEDS, England, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A jury in Britain was told Wednesday that a 9-year-old West Yorkshire girl was drugged and imprisoned in a plot by her mother to collect reward money.

A prosecutor charged that when Karen Matthews, 33, called police last February to say her daughter, Shannon, was missing, she knew where the child was, The Times of London reports.

Prosecutor Julian Goose told Leeds Crown Court that the girl was held in the flat of Michael Donovan, 40, who kept her "drugged, subdued and hidden from the public."

Donovan was the uncle of Karen Matthews' 22-year-old boyfriend, Craig Meehan.

Matthews and Donovan have pleaded innocent to charges of kidnapping the girl and falsely imprisoning her for 24 days.

Besides Shannon Matthews, Goose said other victims in the case were the friends, neighbors and residents of Dewsbury Moor who helped look for the youngster.