'BRITAIN'S worst mum' Karen Matthews is so lonely that she has befriended a budgie who she treats like a child and calls her baby boy, it has been claimed.

The sick kidnapper made headlines in 2008 after she faked the disappearance of her own daughter, Shannon, in a bid to claim a £50,000 reward.

The twisted mum-of-seven chats to her bird and will often ask him for advice, according to a source close to her.

Police discovered her daughter drugged and tethered in the base of a bed in nearby Batley Carr 24 days after the child was snatched from her home in Dewsbury, West Yorks.

Karen, 44, now lives under a new name in the South of England after serving her eight-year sentence.

The mum has changed her appearance and is a reportedly a born-again Christian who works in a charity shop.

The budgie is now her only friend in the world. She asks him for advice on a daily basis. She has no-one else now

But despite her fresh start, it's now emerged that the mum-of-seven is so lonely in her life that she only has her pet budgie Bobby to confide in.

“The budgie is now her only friend in the world,” a source close to Matthews told the Daily Star.

“She asks him for advice on a daily basis. She has no-one else now.”

Matthews used to own two birds but Archie died last year.

The source added: “She treats him like a child and calls him her ‘baby boy’.”

The unrepentant mum has previously spoken about her beloved pet, telling The Mirror she was "terribly lonely" and adding: “I don’t want a man. I don’t trust them. It’s just me and the budgie now.

“I talk to Bob when I get home. I feed him from my hand."

All seven of Karen's children are now living under new identities and are not believed to have had contact with their mum since the scandal in 2008.

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