Karen Matthews, 44, and paedophile fiancé, 57, are hoping to have a BABY

Loathed mother Karen Matthews wants to have a baby with her convicted paedophile fiance by using a surrogate. 

Matthews, 44, from Dewsbury, Yorkshire, is engaged to paedophile Paul Saunders, 57, who was jailed for abusing a 15-year-old girl. 

And now the couple have plans for a family and have found an ‘old friend’ who is happy to carry their baby. 

The couple are willing to pay £1,000 to a surrogate to cover costs incurred during the pregnancy. 

Matthews said she doesn’t want to have the baby herself to ‘save her body’ and is also worried about the backlash if she is seen with a bump.

A source said: ‘She wants to be a mummy again. Her feelings are no one can stop her despite what has happened in the past and it’s her decision.’

She added: ‘Basically Karen and Paul have asked an old friend of his if she’d be a surrogate for them.

New love: The 44-year-old was seen wearing an engagement ring on a shopping trip after her boyfriend Paul (pictured) proposed over Christmas

Karen Matthews holding her daughter’s favourite teddy bear as she made an appeal for her return in 2008 

‘And she said ‘Yes’.

‘Karen said it’s the only way of having a baby without people taking photos of her pregnant and it will be worth it to save her body.’

She added: ‘She said you can get it done cheap in Europe then people won’t know.’ 

Saunders fell ‘head over heels’ in love with Matthews after meeting when he came to repair her bathroom. 

She and her ex-boyfriend’s uncle Michael Donovan were jailed in 2008 for the plot to stage Shannon’s kidnapping and claim the £50,000 reward for ‘finding’ her.  

Victim: Karen Matthews is notorious for faking the kidnapping of her daughter Shannon (pictured) in a plot to claim reward money

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. 

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 West Yorkshire schoolgirl was drugged and probably kept captive on a leash during her incarceration.

Police described Karen Matthews as ‘pure evil’ after she was found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

Guilty: Matthews (left) and co-conspirator Michael Donovan (right) were both sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2009 and released in 2012 after serving half their sentences

Her then-boyfriend, Craig Meehan, was not involved in the kidnapping plot. 

Matthews was spotted wearing an engagement ring on a shopping trip after her boyfriend Paul proposed over Christmas.  

Speaking to The Sun, a source described the couple as ‘inseparable’ and said the pair had been ‘walking round like teenagers’.     

Saunders was arrested on suspicion of breaching his parole terms after their engagement was revealed, but was later released.    

Former relationship: Matthews with her former partner Craig Meehan after Shannon was found alive. Meehan was not involved in the kidnapping plot