Britain’s ‘worst mother’ Karen Matthews, 44, has upset her paedophile fiance because of her obsession with Emmerdale bad boy Cain Dingle, reports suggest.
Paul Saunders is said to loath Matthews’s obsession with the character, played by 40-year-old Jeff Hordley, with the mother setting the actor’s face as her phone’s screensaver and the show’s theme tune as her ringtone.
Matthews – from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire – staged the kidnap of her daughter Shannon in order to cash in on a £50,000 reward for her safe return and she was jailed for four years.
Britain’s ‘worst mother’ Karen Matthews, 44, has upset her paedophile fiance Paul Saunders (together left) because of her obsession with Emmerdale bad boy Cain Dingle (right), reports suggest
Saunders was jailed for five years in January 2010 for his abuse of a vulnerable young girl aged between 15 and 17.
A source told The Mirror: ‘Karen is a massive Emmerdale fan. If it’s on, no one is allowed to speak.
‘Her and Paul are constantly bickering about her obsession with Cain.
‘He hates it because he’s a long away from looking like Cain Dingle.’
Matthews – from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire – staged the kidnap of her daughter Shannon (left) in order to cash in on a £50,000 reward for her safe return and she was jailed for four years. Right: Handcuffed Matthews leaves a police station
It was revealed last month that Matthews and Saunders were engaged after the convicted paedophile asked her to marry him over Christmas and they now live together in a one-bedroom flat.
Matthews initially broke off her engagement to handyman Saunders after she discovered his conviction.
He targeted a ‘vulnerable’ girl and made indecent images of her.
He was jailed for five years and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
With the engagement now back on again, Matthews’s family have warned her that she should dump her paedophile lover for good or they will no longer support her.
Saunders was jailed for five years in January 2010 for his abuse of a vulnerable young girl aged between 15 and 17
Last month it emerged that Matthews was hoping to raise tens of thousands of pounds in cash by selling the rights to her wedding to Saunders.
However, her plan is unlikely to succeed as there are strict rules preventing convicted criminals from receiving cash from the media in order to benefit from their notoriety.
The pair have had a number of furious rows since their engagement was announced.
On one trip to the shops, Matthews was spotted without her £39.99 Princess Diana engagement ring.
Friends claimed Matthews bought the Cubic Zirconia cluster ring herself and was later reimbursed by Saunders but, during the time they had split last month, Matthews had considered trying to sell it.
It was revealed last month that Matthews and Saunders were engaged after the convicted paedophile asked her to marry him over Christmas and they now live together in a one-bedroom flat
Matthews was named ‘Britain’s vilest mother’ after she and her ex-boyfriend’s uncle Michael Donovan plotted to stage Shannon’s kidnapping and claim the £50,000 reward for ‘finding’ her.
Matthews made a series of tearful TV appeals for help in finding her daughter as West Yorkshire Police launched one of the force’s largest ever searches.
The youngster was being held in a flat belonging to her then lover.
Shannon was eventually found by detectives in Donovan’s flat, around a mile from her home in Dewsbury, 24 days after she disappeared.
Prosecutors said the schoolgirl was drugged and probably kept captive on a leash during her incarceration.
Police described Matthews as ‘pure evil’ after she was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
Her then-boyfriend, Craig Meehan, was not involved in the kidnapping plot.
However, he was separately convicted of possessing 49 indecent images of children on a home computer.
She and Donovan were both sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2009 and released in 2012 after serving half their sentences.
Shannon was raised by a new family under a new identity and is now an adult.