Karen Matthews had a secret affair with an OAP - and told police that HE was to blame for her daughter Shannon's disappearance.
In the hours after her little girl went missing, she asked detectives to search the home of her ex-lover, 67-year-old Eddie Clayton.
And his flat was the first they swooped on in their desperate 28-day hunt for the nine-year-old schoolgirl. He was grilled by detectives for five days and all his possessions were seized.
Eddie - who was Karen's lover for three months in 2005 - broke his silence on his ordeal last night. He revealed: "I bought her an engagement ring from Argos for £36.99, and asked her to marry me. And this is how she repays me. I feel like a fool."
Former security guard Eddie dumped Karen, then 29, after he found out that she was cheating on him with an ex-boyfriend - a father of one of her seven children. He hadn't seen or spoken to her for more than two years when police hammered on the door of his flat and hauled him in for questioning.
"One minute I was watching the search for Shannon on the TV news, the next I was the prime suspect," said Eddie, who lives alone. "Mine was the first name the police were given and I was the first person they questioned.
"They took me to Huddersfield police station and told me I had to give a DNA sample. I tried to tell them they had the wrong man, but they said they had to do their job. They said my name had been put forward and demanded to know what I knew about Shannon.
"They questioned me for three days and made me move out of my flat into a bed and breakfast for five days and seized all my possessions.
"They took away my clothes, shoes, towels and bedding. They even took my bed and my shower rail and curtain. I only got my bed back from them this week. I've been sleeping on my settee for over a month and still haven't got all my clothes back." He says police have told him he is no longer part of their investigation and have apologised for what he's been through. But he says it affected him badly. "I've stopped going out and find it hard to sleep," he said.
"Shannon's a lovely kid but Karen didn't care a jot for her. Whenever I went round to the house, Shannon would be in a corner on her own, colouring in.
"As soon as I arrived, Karen would tell all the kids to go upstairs to their rooms and that was the last I'd see of them."
Eddie - now divorced but married three times and a dad of six - met Karen while he was guarding a building site near her home in Dewsbury, West Yorks. "I was lonely and she always smiled whenever we saw each other," he said.
"She came over as friendly and flirty. Sometimes she looked at me with a bit of mischief in her eyes and I sensed that she fancied me. I was flattered. I was old enough to be her dad. I fancied her straight away and she seemed to like it when I flirted with her. She made me feel young again. We got chatting and I asked her out for a meal. She said she'd just ended her relationship with another man. She was 29 at the time and I was 63 but she said she liked me and that the age gap didn't bother her.
"I took her out to karaoke nights at the local pub and bought her a silver bracelet with hearts on from Argos.
"I felt 10ft tall with her on my arm. One or two people stared because of the age gap but we didn't care."
Eddie says they slept together for the first time after a couple of weeks.
"We did it on the settee in her living room. She put the kids to bed and we cuddled up together. I hadn't been with a woman for a while so Karen took the lead. She was all over me. She undid my trousers as we kissed and tugged them down to my ankles. Then she undid her own and took them off. I started undoing my shoes so I could get my trousers off completely but she quickly slipped her knickers off and told me not to bother about my shoes. She left her top half on and we made love right there on the settee. After that, we had sex most days. She loved sex and couldn't get enough.
"I've got asthma and angina so I often had to tell her to take things a bit easier. There were times when I just couldn't keep up with her. Once she joked that she was terrified I'd drop down dead."
After a month, Eddie asked Karen to marry him. He said: "I told her I loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. She said that was what she wanted too."
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But after a few weeks, Eddie began to suspect she was cheating on him. "One or two people I know told me to be careful," he said. "They said Karen was seeing other men behind my back. One day I went round to her house when she wasn't expecting me. The other guy's car was on her drive. I went in and confronted them. He said Karen's engagement ring was his and that she'd bought it for him to give to her because he had no money. Suddenly I knew that I'd been taken for a mug. I left the house and never spoke to her again."
Three months later Eddie moved in next door to Karen - as a lodger to her friends and neighbours Neil and Amanda Hyett.
"That was when Karen started seeing Amanda's brother Craig Meehan," said Eddie. "I was over Karen by then and couldn't care less. We saw each other as we came and went but never spoke much. After a few months I got my own council flat a few miles away. I didn't have anything to do with Karen from that point until the police knocked on my door.
"I wish I'd never got mixed up with her. They say there's no fool like an old fool and now I know they're right.
"I'd like to think that we once had something special and that she is sitting in her prison cell feeling ashamed at what I've had to go through. Sadly, I doubt she's feeling sorry for anyone but herself."
Matthews, 32, is now behind bars at New Hall Prison in Wakefield accused of child neglect and perverting justice.
She will go on trial in November alongside Michael Donovan, 39, uncle of her ex-lover Craig Meehan. Meehan is charged separately with downloading child porn pictures.
'I've got asthma and angina.. I told her to take it easy'
'She cheated on me.. I feel such an old fool'
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Karen has not spoken of kids
By Justin Penrose, Crime Correspondent
Karen Matthews is believed to be suffering from acute depression and dissociation in jail - where officers say she has not mentioned Shannon or any of her children.
The mum-of-seven, 32, is already on suicide watch after concern about her mental state. She is now thought to be suffering bouts of dissociation - a condition where people can forget parts of their life following a shock or trauma.
Officers at New Hall Prison, Wakefield, say Matthews hasn't yet mentioned the children - though she has reportedly tried to write notes to them.
One guard said: "She hasn't said a word about her kids. The only thing she seems remotely interested in is having a cigarette."
Matthews is in the segregation wing of the jail as prison chiefs fear she would be an immediate target for other inmates.
The officer added: "They would rip her apart."
Matthews appeared at Leeds Crown Court earlier this week via a video link from prison. The charge put to her alleged that she "repeatedly concealed" information about Shannon's whereabouts.
She will be at the court for a plea hearing on July 11 alongside Michael Donovan, 39, who is charged with Shannon's kidnapping and false imprisonment.
