Missing schoolgirl 'found alive'

Shannon Matthews has been missing for 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 looking 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.


sky news

She ain't been found then, Just been seen or someone thought it was her, Always happens

no no she has its now been confirmed lookin 4 link

news 24 reporting found under grand parents bed in batley.....strange

confirmed by police at 1445 hrs

Shannon Matthews Is Found
Updated:14:38, Friday March 14, 2008

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.

The schoolgirl's aunt Amanda Hyett said Shannon's mother Karen Matthews had been driven away by police from the family home shortly before 2pm.

Earlier this week, Ms Matthews, 32, a mother-of-seven from Dewsbury, West Yorks, said: "She got abducted. That's all I can say."

Asked if someone she knew was responsible, 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."

Shannon had been dressed in a black jumper with a school logo, a white cotton T-shirt, black trousers and a waist-length black coat with fur round the hood.

One national newspaper offered a £20,000 reward for information about her disappearance.

Police searched more than 200 homes and received over 300 calls from the public in their extensive investigation.

Friends and neighbours also distributed leaflets appealing for information about Shannon's whereabouts across West Yorkshire.

yeh very

Very strange...

who do you reckon she was being hidden from ????

bloody hell any more info only just got in from work not heard anything about this

its on news 24 now

Missing Shannon Matthews "found alive" in Batley

Shannon Matthews, the nine-year-old Yorkshire schoolgirl who went missing for more than three weeks, has been found alive.

The youngster was found in Batley in West Yorkshire just days after her mother said she thought the girl had been snatched to hurt her.

But speaking on Wednesday Karen Matthews said she did not know who could have taken the shy youngster.
advertisement
West Yorkshire police said police Shannon had been found in a house in the neighbouring town of Batley Carr.

Reports suggested she had been found under her grandparents' bed.

A local resident said: "I have just seen Shannon being taken out of a house in Batley Carr. She is safe and well."

Shannon's aunt Amanda Hyett said the schoolgirl's mother Karen Matthews had been driven away by police from the family home shortly before 2pm.

Earlier this week mother-of-seven Mrs Matthews, 32, said she believed someone she knows 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."

Ms Hyett, Shannon's next door neighbour as well as aunt, said: "We've all heard the news. It is great news. I've just heard the news like everyone else. I'm just trying to check if it's right.

"Karen (Shannon's mother) is not in. She's with the police."

Mrs Matthews, 32, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme she was convinced that Shannon was abducted after returning from a school swimming trip in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

"She got abducted. That's all I can say," she said.

Asked if she thought it was someone she knew who took her, the mother-of-seven 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."

But when pressed on who might be behind the abduction, she said: "No idea at all. All my friends and family have all been checked and there are no sightings of her things there at all."

Could of it all been a con to get money ??? Soon as i head she was found under the grand parents bed thats the first thing i thought of ? Sounds sad doesnt but who knows these day look at that guy who was found years lately who suposedly drowned ???

He was up to his ears in debt wasn't he ? so faked his death lol

yer he pleaded guilty yday i think...

not spreading muck but there were reports in the press about problems with the stepfather

Well 7 children by different fathers ?? Does this mother work ?

I aint got a clue about this case so couldnt comment either way

Yes, down the dock road.

The BBC suck they say one thing then change stuff..

They are probably sourcing the news from angencies and freelancers to be fair though.

it just said the been a 39 year old man arrested

Ow olds da dad?

not sure mate

find out damn u!!!

I cba atm Im tooooo lazy

lazy fook lol

love they way they say "alive and well"...as if any kid thats been abducted...and god knows what else will ever be "well"

they aint the only ones haha

hehehe doh!

BBC News Report