When the news broke that Shannon Matthews had vanished, immediate comparisons were made to the abduction of Madeleine McCann, and possible overlaps in terms of criminal profiling. But there is a world of difference between a four year-old absent from her bed in a quiet, affluent holiday resort and a nine year-old being reported missing from the streets of a busy neighbourhood.

As the Matthews’ family life became public — with the complex mix of fathers, children and relatives of boyfriends — it seemed ever more apparent that her disappearance had to be some product of that less than fully functional milieu.

Further indications of the range and depth of child abuse in Britain are revealed almost every day. What is rarely explored is the cynicism at the heart of this cruelty. There are parents around the country who exploit their children, and treat them as commodities in ways that are virtually Dickensian. They see their children as a playful resource and are willing to take advantage of the trust any young child naturally has in his or her parents.

What is particularly frightening about these abusive families is that they are totally aware of how they are expected to behave. They are hooked into the 24-hour, multi-media age that pours out images of family life, and provides illustrations of domestic anguish that can be emulated whenever the social services or other authority figures coming knocking at the door.

Karen Matthews was able to make use of her expression of concern over her missing daughter because she was so media savvy. She must have been enthralled by the international distress that flowed from the abduction of Madeleine McCann and the rapidity with which people were willing to provide funds to help find her. She and Michael Donovan then tackled the task of taking advantage of public goodwill with the thoughtfulness of any experienced conman. They provided spurious addresses they claimed came from a clairvoyant; had in place mixture of sedatives and written out rules to keep Shannon under control, with a rope to prevent her escape. This was not an impulsive, improvised abduction because the opportunity happened to present itself.

Karen Matthews knew all too well how to act the part of a distraught mother because she lives in that shameless world in which it is all too easy to present yourself as you know others want to see you. She knew how to exploit the sympathy that she was all too aware she could engender. Like the journalists who first approached me for a profile of Karen’s abductor she thought her plight would immediately resonate with the tragedy of the McCanns. What a pity it took the police 24 days to uncover this subterfuge.

David Canter is Professor of Psychology at The University of Liverpool

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