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Shannon Matthews Is Found Alive
Friday, 14 March 2008
Missing nine-year-old schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been found alive 24 days after she first went missing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
She was found in a house in Batley Carr, around a mile from her family home about 2pm today.
There are unconfirmed reports that Shannon was found hiding under a bed in her grandparents house, but these have been denied by other sources.
A local resident told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "I've just seen Shannon being taken out of a house in Batley Carr. She is safe and well."
Shannon's aunt, Amanda Hyett, described the news as "wonderful".
"I can't believe it - what an incredible relief," she told the newspaper.
It is understood Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, was with reporters from national newspapers when she heard the news.
She was then driven away from the family home by police and is believed to have been reunited with her daughter.
Earlier this week, Mrs Matthews, 32, said she thought someone she knew had snatched her daughter to hurt her.
But Mrs Matthews said she did not know who could have taken the shy youngster.
Mrs Matthews said: "She got abducted. That's all I can say." Asked if she thought it was someone she knew who took her, she said: "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 like that that she's taken with her." And asked why someone close to her would do it, Mrs Matthews replied: "Just to hurt me, really."
The operation to find Shannon was the biggest missing person's case the West Yorkshire force had undertaken since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.
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