A woman who as a child was kidnapped and drugged by her own mother has been granted anonymity for life after an "extraordinary" injunction by the High Court.
Shannon Matthews was the victim of a brutal scam by her mother Karen Matthews in 2008, who aimed to scoop a £50,000 reward for finding her daughter.
Matthews and her boyfriend's brother Michael Donovan were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice after Shannon was found hidden, drugged and tied up in the bottom of a bed – more than three weeks after going missing.
Shannon, now 21, and her siblings were taken into care and changed their names after the kidnapping. They are all protected by a restriction on reporting that is due to run out in 2021.
But the High Court has issued a sweeping new order meaning that their new names, addresses and jobs can never be revealed or published unless a court overrules the decision or the family revoke it.
Matthews and Donovan, of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, kidnapped Shannon, then 9, with the aim of pocketing the money from the reward offered to the people who found her.
They planned for Donovan to release Shannon in Dewsbury Market and pretend to find her before taking home the £50,000 reward after handing her into police.
But officers discovered Shannon in the base of a divan bed in a flat on March 14, 24 days after she went missing. Donovan was subsequently arrested.
Donovan claimed that Matthews had told him to keep her daughter for a few days so they could pick up the reward, and said she had threatened him with violence before he agreed.
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Matthews denied this tearfully in court, but Julian Goose QC said that she had told detectives five versions of her account, accusing her of "telling lie, after lie, after lie".
Matthews and Donovan were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice and both sentenced to eight years in prison.
