UK’s ‘most hated mum’ Karen Matthews moans that her benefits have been cut saying: ‘I can’t even get credit on my phone’

After leaving prison she moved hundreds of miles away from her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and adopted a new name - which has not been revealed.

But the mum of seven’s past has made it impossible for her to find a job and she now survives on  £25 a week benefits.

She revealed to a friend: “They’ve completely lowered my money. It’s a horrible life.

“By the time I’ve put money towards running the flat and put £10 a fortnight on the electric and got myself a little bit of food, I have very little to live on. I’ve had to sell things. I haven’t even got any credit on my phone.”

Matthews, who has reportedly changed her name to that of her favourite Hollywood actress, is said to have turned to the Bible group after being cut off from family and friends.

Websites the group uses have Christian-sentiment messages from TV survival expert Bear Grylls.

She revealed to the friend: “When I left prison I picked up a Bible and saw a passage about ‘God loves you’. I knew I was hated by everyone, cut off from my family… but here they were, saying I was loved."

But despite asking for forgiveness, Matthews still insists she is innocent and did not snatch little Shannon, who was missing for three and a half weeks in February, 2008.

A police hunt was launched and people from the ­estate in Dewsbury Moor where she lived joined in.

But she was found alive on March 14 at the flat of her mum’s ­accomplice Michael Donovan in nearby Batley Carr, where she had been drugged and held captive.

During the trial, a toxicologist testified how hair samples showed the youngster had been given the powerful drug ­Temazepam regularly for months before she vanished.

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