Missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been found alive in Batley, West Yorkshire, a friend has comfirmed to Sky News.

Police had been searching for the nine-year-old for over three weeks.

Missing West Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been found alive, it has been reported.

West Yorkshire Police are yet to confirm that she has been found but said they were investigating reports the nine-year-old had been found.

She was last seen at Westmoor Junior School, Dewsbury on 19 February.

The force said the operation was the biggest missing person's case it had undertaken since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.

Unconfirmed reports say she has been found in nearby Lidgate Gardens in Batley Carr.

West Yorkshire Police said they were looking into reports that Shannon has been found alive.


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That's brilliant news! Finally a news story with a happy ending

i hope thats true *crosses fingers*

Missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been found alive in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, a friend has comfirmed to Sky News.

Police had been searching for the nine-year-old for over three weeks.

The youngster has now been taken to a police station where she will be reunited with her mother.

Sky's north of England correspondent Gerard Tubb said: "I only know that she is alive but I wasn't given any impression that she was harmed.

"They've got her, they're very excited."

Shannon failed to return home from school after a swimming trip on February 19.

Her mother Karen Matthews, 32, a mother-of-seven from Dewsbury, West Yorks, said soon after: "She got abducted. That's all I can say."


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Shannon Matthews, the nine-year-old girl missing for more than three weeks, has been found alive, according to a series of reports.

West Yorkshire police said today they were "looking into" the reports. Shannon disappeared on her way home from a school swimming trip in Dewsbury on February 19, sparking one of the biggest investigations in the force's history.

The Yorkshire Evening Post quoted police and family members saying Shannon had been found at a house in Batley Carr, part of Dewsbury, near to the missing girl's home.

One local resident told the newspaper they had seen Shannon being taken out of the house, adding: "She is safe and well." The girl's aunt, Amanda Hyett, told the paper: "I can't believe it - what an incredible relief."

Hyett said Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, had been taken from her home in Dewsbury Moor by a police liaison officer with her partner, Craig Meehan. It was believed the pair were being taken to see Shannon. Sky News also reported that Shannon had been found alive.

Fears had been growing for Shannon's safety given the length of time she had been missing. It is extremely rare for abducted children to be recovered alive if they are not found very soon after they are snatched.

Earlier this week, Shannon's mother said she believed her daughter was snatched by someone close to the family. Asked if she thought someone she knew was responsible, she told the BBC: "It seems that way because there's no trace of her at all. There's no trace of her swimming costume, her towel or anything."

The search for Shannon has been one of the biggest inquiries the West Yorkshire force has undertaken. As well as 300 local officers, the hunt includes more than half of the UK's specialist body search dogs.


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Police smashed their way into a flat in Lidgate Gardens in Batley Carr and emerged carrying Shannon, neighbours said.

The young girl looked "quite calm" and officers confirmed she was OK.

A local resident, who did not want to give her name, said: "One of my neighbours heard banging.

"When he went outside, police were breaking the door down - the man wouldn't come out so they broke in. Apparently they found her in bed."

Earlier reports claimed the little girl was found hiding under a bed in a her grandparents' home.


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what on earth has gone on?

Good god, what have they put the mother of her thro for nearly 4 weeks

"West Yorkshire Police confirmed the girl had been found concealed in the base of a divan bed in a house in Lidgate Gardens in Batley Carr."

Finding her in bed at 2pm isn't a good sign...I fear he's abused her.

Let's hope not but it seems to get worse as the story unfolds. It doesn't sound too good at the moment does it? They shoud string this guy up!!!!!

"A 39-year-old man has been arrested at the flat on suspicion of abduction, said police."

"The neighbour believed the man who occupied the flat where Shannon was found lived alone and had children who had been taken into care.

She added: "We haven't seen him for two or three years. But apparently he's come back."

"The woman who lives downstairs from him tipped off police after hearing footsteps, she said."

"Sky's north of England correspondent Gerard Tubb said: "I only know that she is alive but I wasn't given any impression that she was harmed".

Child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas said: "It's fantastic news that she has been but now the investigation will take a different line."

He added: "They will have to find out where she's been. Clearly there are some huge issues as to why she disappeared in the first place."

She was very unhappy on the day she went missing. She wanted to see her father more.

I am guessing that the 39 year old man that has been arrested is her father and that he was keeping her at his parents house. Whether or not she was under force or there of her own free will.

Its gets stranger and stranger, now it seems its not her father but a man who was known by her

Hadn't her uncle gone missing?

Its not her father, he's made a statement saying he is really happy

Not sure on the uncle Baz

Thank God -
Her poor mother must be over the moon !

I wonder what actually happend it those 4 weeks.. x

Such good news to hear she's been found.

I reckon she was being hidden by someone who cared for her. She could have hidden in that divan herself, but of course it's all just speculation.

Poor kid. I hope she gets whatever help she needs now.

Thank goodness she has been found alive.

He is 42 years old so we can rule him out!

She was discovered around a mile away at the home of a man who is part of her extended family, say Sky sources.

Its good that she has been found but I am sick to death of news stories about children going missing. There are hundreds missing, but only some get preferential treatment with news coverage (if any at all) and sometimes its all a bit OTT. She has been missing for 4 weeks. There are plenty of children (and adults) who have been missing for years. Do they get a mention? No.

omg thats so good

The arrested man is related to Shannon's stepfather Craig Meehan, according to Sky sources.

I just dont know how you could take a child. What the hell was she doing there? Why didnt she cry out for help?

But apparently she looked well kept and looked after