Missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been found
 

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 :bigsmile:

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 :sad:

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. :thumbs:

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.

:shocked:

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

Glad she has been found:spin2:

Yeah, but it's not that often when someone turns up alive :)

She wasn't given that great coverage really.

Nowhere near the amount that Maddy got.

She did on ITV. She headlined quite often and their opening story usually lasts about 10 minutes.

But don't get me started on that other one, who I shall not name but you probably still know who I'm on about, because I'll probably have no computer left.

Thank god for that! :spin:

This has a happy ending many others are still missing.

At leasst she's back safe an sound and alive and well. Could v been traged instead:sad:

Im soo happy thats he has been found alive and well and she is back with her family :bigsmile:

Im glad they found dah Gyal :banana:

Dat man shud be be in prison fo death penalty

w.e you call it lol :P

x

Actually, she is not back with her family and will not be for the foreseeable future, if ever since social services have got involved.


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Time to break out the yellow ribbons?

http://www.johnnycarver.com/images/J...eautiful_2.jpg

:rolleyes:

It said on the news that when Maddie went missing everyone was thinking aww what a cute little girl
... but when they saw Shannon straight away everyone knew about her extended family and it was quite a 'rough' area she came from...

and also the police had suspected it would be a family member who had her... x

I was so relieved when they found Shannon alive and well. The procedure might seem a little unfair but keeping her away from her family means they can gather her statements in a controlled way. This means she can not be led in what she says. It is a long process to gather evidence from a child and is done in a non leading manner. They have to basically let her tell them what happened where as an adult would be asked direct questions.

It will all have to be videoed as well, which again is a lengthy process and she will have to be given a lot of time to relax between sessions. She will be staying with someone who has also had training in the field of disclosure.

Time to put the yellow ribbons on that tree they planted?

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They have no idea when or if they will ever see her again. :shocked:

Shannon is still not home with her family and one report says she is in the vountary care of social services. It could be that Shannon has been the one to say she is not prepared to return home!

Sky's version

The Daily Mail implies Shannon has opted to stay with the SS (Social Services) in it's title but is vague in the body of the article using the voluntary care of social services line.

So has Shannon volunteered? has her mother been persuaded (arm twisted??) that she needs to be there? Have the police volunteered her to be there?

Someone please be a bit less vague here.

I am beginning to wonder if she will spend more time with social services than when she was abducted.

There has been a lot of vilification of Karen, so if anything was wrong, why have Social services not taken her other children into care. Oh I forgot, they are not cute little babies that can be used to bump up their adoption target figures :mad:

Her siblings must still be upset that their big sister is still being kept from them.