Mother shopped amid Shannon hunt

Ms Matthews said she was "confused" during police interviews

The mother of Shannon Matthews went out shopping for a satellite navigation system on the night her daughter was reported missing, it emerged in court.

Karen Matthews admitted shopping in a supermarket, but denied buying beer hours after her daughter failed to come home, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Ms Matthews, 33, and Michael Donovan, 41, deny kidnap and false imprisonment over Shannon's disappearance.

Tearful for a second day, Ms Matthews also denied "blatantly lying" in court.

Ms Matthews continued to cry as Alan Conrad QC, representing Mr Donovan, accused her of being deceitful in court.

Mr Conrad said to her: "You're telling blatant lies to this jury, aren't you?"

She replied: "No".

Later, Ms Matthews told the jury that on the night Shannon went missing she had gone shopping for a satellite navigation system for her next door neighbour, Neil Hyett, and then to a local supermarket.

Mr Conrad said to her: "What were you doing going to find a sat-nav for Neil that night Shannon was missing?"

She said: "At the time Amanda (Mr Hyett's wife) told me it might be a good idea to go there and see if I could see anything of Shannon."

'Food for kids'

Mr Conrad asked her about going to a supermarket to buy beer and other goods.

Karen Matthews denied she had bought beer, but said she had to "get food for the other kids".

The court has heard how Shannon, who was nine at the time of her disappearance, was found in Mr Donovan's flat 24 days after she went missing from her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

I'm getting blamed for something I haven't done Karen Matthews

Mr Conrad asked Ms Matthews why she told police in her interviews that she had asked Mr Donovan to pick Shannon up from school.

Karen Matthews said: "I didn't ask him to pick her up from school. I was confused what I was saying."

She also told the court her former partner Craig Meehan had told her to say this to the police.

Questioned by prosecutor Julian Goose QC as to why she was continually crying Ms Matthews said: "Because I'm getting blamed for something I haven't done".

She denied admitting she knew where Shannon was in a conversation in a car with a police officer and two other witnesses.

'Don't say nowt'

Ms Matthews was then questioned about why traces of the drugs Temazepam and Melcozine had been found in Shannon's urine and hair. She said she did not know how they had got into the youngster's system.

Later, the jury heard that a delivery driver overheard Alice Meehan, Craig Meehan's mother, talking on the phone on the day Shannon was found.

Mark Goode said he was delivering a bed to Moorside Place and heard Mrs Meehan say: "Don't say nowt, just keep your mouth shut. They'll never, ever find out."

Mr Goode said Mrs Meehan looked like she was "panicking".

The prosecution alleges Mr Donovan kept Shannon drugged and imprisoned in his flat as part of a plan he and Ms Matthews had to claim £50,000 in reward money.

The trial continues.