A MAN accused of kidnapping Shannon Matthews told a jury today he was "scared" of the youngster's mother.

Michael Donovan began giving evidence today at his trial at Leeds Crown Court, where he and Shannon's mother Karen Matthews, 33, deny kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

His barrister Alan Conrad QC asked him: "How do you feel towards Karen? Do you like her?"

He replied: "No."

Asked why, he went on: "I'm scared of her. She kept threatening me."

Donovan, 40, of Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, went into the witness box the day after the trial was halted after he received treatment for injuries he received in a prison attack.

Today, within minutes of him going into the witness box, he had to be asked repeatedly to speak louder by the judge, Mr Justice McCombe.

The charges relate to the 24-day disappearance of Shannon in February and March, when the little girl was nine.

Donovan told the court he had two daughters with his wife, but the relationship had problems.

Donovan said: "She was right violent towards me. She tried to control me."

He confirmed he took a range of drugs for his various problems, including Temazepam, but denied ever taking heroin.

Donovan told the jury that Matthews flagged him down while he was driving in Dewsbury.

She told him she had a "problem" and wanted him to sort it out. He claimed she said: "I don't want anyone else to know about it."

They agreed to meet at a cafe in Dewsbury a few days later, the jury was told.

Donovan also told the court that Matthews asked him for a loan of £20,000.

Mr Conrad asked him: "Did you have that money?"

"No, I didn't," he replied.

Mr Conrad then asked him if he would have loaned her the money if he had it.

"No," he told the jury.

He told the court that Matthews put a plan to him to claim £50,000 in reward money.

They were in a cafe in Dewsbury when this happened.

He told the jury: "At that time she said that she had a plan to get some money."

Donovan said Matthews passed him a piece of paper with writing on it.

He said Matthews first asked him to look after her elder son but he refused.

Donovan said: "She paused. Then she came out and said 'Can you look after Shannon instead?'.

"She told me that she was going to get a bigger reward out of this if she went missing."

Donovan said she wanted him to go to Moor Side Road, where Matthews lived, and wait for Shannon to come.

He went on: "I would have to look after her and she would have to report her missing."

Asked how long he would have to keep her for, he replied: "She didn't say how long it was going to be.

"But she said if the figure got to £50,000, she put on a paper what I had to do."

He said the instructions told him to leave the little girl in Dewsbury market, find her and then take her to the police station.