Woman sentenced for helping convicted murderer evade police

Samantha Reader, previously of Queen’s Square in Middlesbrough, assisted Joey Matthews by staying in various hotel rooms in a bid to hide him from detectives.

The 27-year-old also hung up on police when they called her to ask where Matthews was despite an ongoing manhunt.

She then sent a message to his mother sharing the number of the detective and warned her to be ‘careful’, the court heard.

Matthews, alongside Brandon Ali, was convicted in 2021 for driving directly at Carl Eland who was cycling along a pavement on Homerton Road in Pallister Park, Middlesbrough.

During the manhunt, Reader and Matthews stayed in the Days Inn hotel in Durham, The Bluebell Hotel and The Park Hotel in Redcar between 1 October 2021 and 9 October 2021.

Reader also sent messages enquiring about the availability of nine caravan rentals and various internet searches for caravan parks, log cabins and holiday lodges.

Other internet and website searches over a period of five days included ‘how long do murderers serve in prison?’, ‘maximum jail sentence UK’ and ‘ex-girlfriend hid fugitive brute in her loft’.

Their time on the run came to an end when police stopped them in a taxi travelling on Ladgate Lane in Middlesbrough on Thursday 7 October 2021 and subsequently arrested.

On Monday 3 March Reader attended Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced to two years and two months for assisting an offender. She had pleaded guilty to the offence at an earlier hearing.

Detective Inspector Matt Hollingsworth, from Cleveland Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET), said: “This sentencing should send a stark warning to people who think that they can assist or harbour individuals who are wanted by police. You will be caught, and you could also be spending a period behind bars.

“Reader was providing a form of protection to a man who we were seeking on suspicion of murder and went to numerous attempts to prevent him from being detected.

“It is a criminal offence and one that we will proactively take action against to ensure that they are rightly punished through the justice system.”