Shannon Matthews' kidnapper Michael Donovan has died from cancer 16 years after holding the terrified schoolgirl captive in his council flat.
The 54-year-old came up with the hoax abduction plan alongside Shannon's mother Karen Matthews in a bid to claim a whopping £50,000 reward.
Donovan, who changed his name to Aiden Johnson, was pronounced dead at Three Valleys Hospital in Keighley in Yorkshire yesterday.
He collapsed in the courtyard of the secure mental health hospital around mid-afternoon.
A West Yorkshire Police handout photograph shows Michael DonovanGETTYShannon, then aged nine, "disappeared" on her way home in Dewsbury on February 19, 2008.
Police also immediately announced a massive search involving more than 200 officers.
Shannon's mother issued an emotional appeal just a few weeks later on March 1.
However, the schoolgirl was found alive at Donovan's house in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire on March 14.
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Christmas decorations light up the house next door to the boarded up home of nine-year-old kidnap victim Shannon Matthews which lays empty in Moorside Road
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Matthews and Donovan were found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice later that year, resulting in both receiving eight-year prison sentences.
Donovan was admitted to the mental health hospital after his release from prison in 2012.
However, the 54-year-old was disowned in 2022, with nobody visiting him in the final months of his life.
Donovan's death came after a routine check-up revealed he developed a massive tumour.
A West Yorkshire Police handout photograph shows Karen Matthews
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He was being investigated by police last year on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.
Officers entered the secure hospital to interview Donavan and later confiscated his phone.
Donovan changed his name twice since the 2008 kidnapping plot, including to Aiden Johnson and Paul Drake.
A spokesperson for Elysium Healthcare said: "We will not be issuing any comment or statement."
