Disappearance of Shannon Matthews

Shannon Matthews is a British girl who disappeared on the afternoon of 19 February 2008 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7302254.stm | title=Shannon's complex family tree | author=Mark Simpson |publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-03-18 | accessdate = 2008-03-19] The search for the 9-year-old became a major missing person police operation. She was found alive on 14 March 2008 at a house in Batley Carr, also in West Yorkshire and only a short distance away from Dewsbury. The house in question belonged to 39-year-old Michael 'Mick' Donovan, the uncle of Shannon's then stepfather, Craig Matthews.

Donovan - formerly known as Paul Drake - was arrested at the scene, and subsequently charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Shannon.cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7296756.stm | title=Missing schoolgirl 'found alive' | publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-03-14 | accessdate = 2008-03-14] cite web | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3571807.ece | title=Michael Donovan is charged over Shannon Matthews kidnap and false imprisonment | publisher="The Times" | date=2008-03-18 | accessdate = 2008-03-18] Karen Matthews, Shannon's mother, was charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice, on 8 April 2008. Donovan and Matthews are due to remain in jail until they face a joint trial starting on 11 November 2008.

Disappearance

Investigation

Shannon was last seen at 15:10 on 19 February 2008, outside Westmoor Junior School, Church Lane, Dewsbury Moor, the school that she attends, where she had been dropped off after a visit to the Dewsbury Sports Centre swimming pool. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3496676.ece "Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, defends her partner on TV"] , "The Times", 7 March 2008] This is about half-a-mile from her home in Dewsbury Moor. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3478467.ece "Missing Shannon Matthews's mother: 'Someone who knows her knows something'"] , "The Times", March 3, 2008]

The investigation was led by Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7265084.stm "Missing girl police 'fear worst'"] , BBC News, 26 February 2008] The West Yorkshire Police questioned 1,500 motorists [ [http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Police-quiz-1500-drivers-in.3824409.jp "Police quiz 1,500 drivers in hunt for missing Shannon"] , "Yorkshire Post", 28 February 2008] and also searched 3,000 houses. [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/SEARCH-FOR-SHANNON-3000-homes.3843658.jp "Search for Shannon: 3,000 homes to be searched"] , Yorkshire Evening Post, 5 March 2008] By 5 March, more than 250 officers and 60 detectives were involved in the investigation, about 10% of West Yorkshire Police's operational strength. This became the largest police search for a missing person, in the country, since the Yorkshire Ripper investigation around 30 years previously. [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/SEARCH-FOR-SHANNON-Biggest-inquiry.3864614.jp Search for Shannon: Biggest inquiry since Yorkshire Ripper] - Yorkshire Evening Post, 11 March 2008] [ [http://www.dewsburyreporter.co.uk/shannon-matthews-latest/Shannon-search-is-largest-in.3864695.jp Shannon search is largest in 25 years] - Dewsbury Reporter, 11 March 2008] Of the 27 specialist victim recovery dogs in the United Kingdom, 16 were involved in the search. [cite news
title = Over half UK's sniffer dogs used in search for Shannon
author = Andrew Hirst
publisher = "Huddersfield Daily Examiner"
date = 12 March, 2008
url = http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2008/03/12/over-half-uk-s-sniffer-dogs-used-in-search-for-shannon-86081-20610940/
accessdate = 2008-03-12]

Publicity

"The Sun" newspaper initially offered a reward of £20,000 for information leading to Shannon's safe return. [ [http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1307556,00.html "Newspaper Offers £20K To Find Shannon"] , Sky News, 1 March, 2008] This was subsequently increased, on 10 March, to £50,000. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yorkshire/7289105.stm "Shannon hunt 'near Ripper scale'"] , BBC News, 11 March 2008] A business in the town of Huddersfield - nine miles from Dewsbury - also offered £5,000. [ [http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2008/02/29/firm-s-5-000-shannon-reward-86081-20538627/ "Firm's £5,000 Shannon reward"] , Joanne Douglas, "Huddersfield Daily Examiner", 29 February, 2008]

The West Yorkshire Police created a web page, 'Missing Shannon Matthews Appeal', to assist in the search. They released a new publicity photograph of Shannon, on 7 March, on that page. [ [http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/section-item.asp?sid=12&iid=4624 "Missing Shannon Matthews Appeal"] , West Yorkshire Police, 7 March 2008] The police also released the 999 call made by Karen Matthews reporting the disappearance. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/05/ukcrime "Missing girl: mother's 999 call released"] , Elizabeth Stewart, The Guardian, 5 March 2008] An official website, 'Help Us Find Shannon', including the "Shannon Matthews Appeal", was launched on 11 March. [cite news
title = Website bid to raise Shannon awareness
publisher = "Huddersfield Daily Examiner"
date = 12 March, 2008
url = http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2008/03/12/website-bid-to-raise-shannon-awareness-86081-20610946/
accessdate = 2008-03-12] Both websites were removed following the discovery of Shannon.

Media reaction

A comparison was drawn, in early March 2008, between the publicity given to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann with the much lower level of publicity for Shannon. Roy Greenslade, writing in the "Guardian Unlimited" blog, explained this by stating that "Overarching everything is social class" but added that Shannon going missing in the UK made a difference. "The Independent" took the same line saying "Kate and Gerry McCann had a lot: they were a couple of nice middle-class doctors on holiday in an upmarket resort... Karen Matthews is not as elegant, nor as eloquent". [cite news
last = Greenslade
first = Roy
title = Why is missing Shannon not getting the same coverage as Madeleine?
publisher = "Guardian Unlimited" blog
date = 5 March, 2008
url = http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/2008/03/why_is_missing_shannon_not_get.html
accessdate = 2008-03-05] [cite news
last = Nicole
first = Martin
title = Missing: The contrasting searches for Shannon and Madeleine
publisher = "The Independent"
date = 2 March, 2008
url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/missing-the-contrasting-searches-for-shannon-and-madeleine-790207.html
accessdate = 2008-03-05]

"The Times" noted that the local community has pulled together but that the hunt appeared to have been classed as less newsworthy than the most minor developments in the search for Madeleine McCann. [cite news
last = Norfolk
first = Andrew
title = Poor little Shannon Matthews. Too poor for us to care that she is lost?
publisher = "The Times"
date = 1 March, 2008
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3463481.ece
accessdate = 2008-03-12] The "Brisbane Times" said that Karen Matthews and Kate McCann represented two sides of the social class coin in Britain. [cite news
title = Two mothers, two lost girls, one class system
publisher = "Brisbane Times"
date = 8 March, 2008
url = http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/two-mothers-two-lost-girls-one-class-system/2008/03/07/1204780112926.html
accessdate = 2008-03-12] "The Daily Telegraph" speculated that had Shannon belonged to a middle-class family, in which articulate parents were conversant with the mechanics of mobilising a slick public awareness campaign, then more public attention would have been focused on the effort to find her. [cite news
last = Craig
first = Olga
title = Missing Shannon's mother rues lack of concern
publisher = "The Daily Telegraph"
date = 11 March, 2008
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/09/nshannon109.xml&page=2
accessdate = 2008-03-12]

Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, said on GMTV - the ITV 1 breakfast franchise - on 7 March, that her boyfriend Craig Meehan was not involved and that he "would not hurt anybody". Meehan was also defended by Shannon's father, Leon Rose. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=529112&in_page_id=1770 "Shannon's stepfather is innocent says her real father"] , Daily Mail, 10 March 2008] Nonetheless, Matthews and her boyfriend, in an interview on Radio 4's the "Today programme" on 12 March, were questioned on suggestions by her parents that her boyfriend had been violent towards Shannon and on having seven children by five fathers. Commenting on the interview, "The Independent" said that the case had developed a cruel overtone and that such questions went far beyond necessity and lifted the lid on an uncomfortable hypocrisy in British society. [cite news
last = Milmo
first = Cahal
title = Missing children and the media: The wrong kind of family?
publisher = "The Independent"
date = 13 March, 2008
url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/missing-children-and-the-media-the-wrong-kind-of-family-795007.html
accessdate = 2008-03-12]

Discovery

West Yorkshire Police confirmed that Shannon was found alive at 12:30 p.m. on March 14, 2008, twenty-four days after going missing. She was found concealed in the base of a divan bed in a flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr. Michael Donovan, 39, was arrested at the scene.

Shannon was made subject to an emergency Police Protection Order by the West Yorkshire Police and was cared for by the Social Services. [cite web |url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/SHANNON-FOUND-Shannon-made-subject.3881662.jp | title=Shannon Found: Shannon made subject of care order | publisher=Yorkshire Post | date=2008-03-14 | accessdate = 2008-03-14] The order was made under section 46 of the Children Act 1989 which allows such orders to remain in force for 72 hours. [cite web |url=http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/multiagencyworking/glossary/?asset=glossary&id=22801 |title= Police protection
publisher=Every Child Matters |accessdate = 2008-03-14] The protection order was lifted on 17 March 2008. [cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/shannon-to-stay-with-police-797123.html |title= Shannon suspect charged with kidnapping
author= Mark Hughes
publisher=The Independent |accessdate = 2008-03-18 |date=2008-03-18] Since then Shannon has remained in the care of Kirklees Family Services on a voluntary basis.cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/18/nshannon218.xml |title= Shannon Matthews faces weeks of questioning
author= Paul Stokes
publisher=The Daily Telegraph |accessdate = 2008-03-23 |date=2008-03-19]

The police reported on 15 March that Shannon had started on the road to recovery following her ordeal. Specially trained officers started to question her to establish what had happened since she went missing. [cite web |url=http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/section-item.asp?sid=12&iid=4707 |title= Shannon Matthews Enquiry
publisher=West Yorkshire Police |date=2008-03-15 | |accessdate = 2008-03-15] The questioning, expected to last for several weeks, took place in ten-minute intervals at a special children's suite resembling a classroom.

A film of the Matthews family's search for Shannon, and her homecoming, was shown in an episode of the Channel 4 documentary series "Cutting Edge" on 20 March. [cite web | url=http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/cutting_edge/missing-girl/ | title=Shannon Matthews: The Family's Story |publisher="Channel 4" |date=2008-03-20 | accessdate = 2008-03-30]

ubsequent events

Michael Donovan, the uncle of Shannon’s stepfather, was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment in connection with the incident on 17 March 2008. Donovan appeared before Dewsbury magistrates on 18 March, and was remanded in custody. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7302027.stm | title=Man remanded over Shannon kidnap |publisher="BBC News" |date=2008-03-18 | accessdate = 2008-03-20] He then appeared at Leeds Crown Court, via a video link from his prison cell, on 26 March. The provisional trial date has been fixed for 11 November.cite web | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/26/shannon.court | title=Shannon kidnapping accused sent to trial
publisher="The Guardian" |author= Anil Dawar |date=2008-03-26 | accessdate = 2008-04-02]

Relating to examination of computers in the home of Shannon by the investigation team, Craig Meehan, the stepfather of Shannon, was arrested on 2 April, on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7326006.stm | title= Shannon stepfather in porn arrest |publisher="BBC News" |date=2008-04-02 | accessdate = 2008-04-02] He was remanded in custody, by Dewsbury Magistrates Court, at a hearing on 3 April charged with 11 offences of possessing indecent images of children. [cite web | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3671182.ece | title= Shannon Matthews: Craig Meehan remanded in custody | publisher="The Times" | date=2008-04-04| accessdate = 2008-04-08] . On 18 April 2008 Meehan pleaded not guilty, and elected to be tried by magistrate rather than a jury. On 16 September 2008, Meehan was convicted by Dewsbury Magistrates of 11 counts of possessing child pornography, relating to 49 images of level one, two, three and four found stored on his computer after it was seized by police from the house he lived in with the Matthews', on Moorside Road, Dewsbury. On the same day, he was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment. He was also released that day; he had already spent longer on remand than the entire length of the sentence. [ [http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/61714/Meehan-freed-after-porn-sentencing Meehan freed after porn sentencing] ]

Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, was arrested on 6 April on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7333898.stm | title=Mother arrested by Shannon police | publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-04-07 | accessdate = 2008-04-07] She was charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice, on 8 Aprilcite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7337258.stm | title= Shannon mother in neglect charge | publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-04-08 | accessdate = 2008-04-08] cite web | url= http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/national_news/index.var.206286.0.shannon_mother_remanded_in_custody.php?
title= Shannon mother remanded in custody| publisher="Croydon Guardian" | date=2008-04-09 | accessdate = 2008-04-09] . At a hearing on 5 September 2008, she was also charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7599400.stm] .

Amanda Hyett, Craig Meehan's sister, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, on 4 April 2008.cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7331107.stm | title= Shannon case women freed on bail | publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-04-04| accessdate = 2008-04-04] cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3683968.ece |title= Shannon Matthews: mother and sister of Craig Meehan arrested
author= Alexi Mostrous
publisher=The Times |accessdate = 2008-04-04 |date=2008-04-04] Alice Meehan, the mother of Craig Meehan and sister of Michael Donovan, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice, also on 4 April. Both Amanda Hyett and Alice Meehan were released on police bail on 4 April but they were rearrested, along with Meehan's sister Caroline, on 10 April. All three women are being held on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7340667.stm | title= Women quizzed over Shannon case | publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-04-10 | accessdate = 2008-04-10]

The police announced, on 8 April, that they were investigating approaches to the Madeleine McCann fund, for money to assist the search for Shannon. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7336803.stm | title= Shannon-McCann fund link probed | publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-04-08 | accessdate = 2008-04-08]

Karen Matthews was remanded to face trial alongside Donovan in November 2008.cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yorkshire/7350062.stm | title= 'Kidnap trial' for Shannon mother | publisher="BBC News" | date=2008-04-16 | accessdate = 2008-04-17]

On 24 September 2008, it was reported that Craig Meehan had attempted suicide more than once and that his mother had talked him out of it. [cite web | url=http://www.sentryparentalcontrols.co.uk/news/craig-meehan-talked-out-of-suicide-bid.aspx | title= Craig Meehan 'talked out of suicide bid' | publisher="Sentry Parental Controls" | date=2008-09-24 | accessdate = 2008-09-24]

References