The mother of Shannon Matthews is due to be sentenced for kidnapping her own daughter in an attempt to claim thousands of pounds in reward money.

Last month a judge told Karen Matthews, 33, she faces a substantial jail sentence after she was found guilty of a series of offences relating to the disappearance of nine-year-old Shannon for 24 days.

Matthews will appear at Leeds Crown Court alongside her former partner's uncle, Michael Donovan, 40.

A jury heard how they conspired to keep Shannon drugged and imprisoned in a desperate plan to claim £50,000 in reward money.

Matthews and Donovan were found guilty last month of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice after a three-week trial.

Shannon, now 10, went missing on February 19 as she walked home from school near her home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire.

West Yorkshire Police launched a massive search operation costing almost £3.2 million - one of the largest conducted by the force.

On March 14 Shannon was discovered in the base of a divan bed in Donovan's flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, less than a mile away from her home in Dewsbury Moor.

It was revealed that Donovan kept her imprisoned as part of a plan he and Matthews hatched to claim a £50,000 reward offered by a national newspaper.

Police believe the pair may have been influenced by the coverage of Madeleine McCann's disappearance, which was a high-profile news story in the months before Shannon went missing