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Kidnapping of Shannon Matthews

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Shannon Matthews is a young British girl who disappeared on the afternoon of 19 February 2008 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England.[1] The search for the nine-year-old became the biggest missing person police operation in the area for 30 years.[2] She was found alive on 14 March 2008 at a house in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire. 39-year-old Michael 'Mick' Donovan (formerly known as Paul Drake) was arrested at the scene, and subsequently charged with the kidnap and false imprisonment of Shannon.[3][4]

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.[5] This is about half-a-mile from her home in Dewsbury Moor.[6]

The investigation was led by Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan.[7] The West Yorkshire Police questioned 1,500 motorists[8] and also searched 3,000 houses.[9] By 5 March, more than 250 officers and 60 detectives were involved in the investigation, about 10% of West Yorkshire Police's operational strength.[9] This became the largest police search for a missing person, in the country, since the Yorkshire Ripper investigation around 30 years previously.[2][10] Of the 27 specialist victim recovery dogs in the United Kingdom, 16 were involved in the search.[11]

West Yorkshire Police confirmed that Shannon was found alive at 12:30pm on March 14, 2008, 24 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.[3]

Publicity

The Sun newspaper initially offered a reward of £20,000 for information leading to Shannon's safe return.[12] This was subsequently increased, on 10 March, to £50,000.[13] A Huddersfield business also offered £5,000.[14]

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.[15] The police also released the 999 call made by Karen Matthews reporting the disappearance.[16] An official website, Help Us Find Shannon, including the Shannon Matthews Appeal, was launched on 11 March.[17] Both websites were removed following the discovery of Shannon.

Aftermath

Shannon

Shannon was made subject to an emergency Police Protection Order by the West Yorkshire Police and was cared for by the Social Services.[18] The order was made under section 46 of the Children Act 1989 which allows such orders to remain in force for 72 hours.[19] The protection order was lifted on 17 March.[20] Since then Shannon has remained in the care of Kirklees Family Services on a voluntary basis.[21]

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.[22] The questioning, expected to last for several weeks, took place in ten-minute intervals at a special children's suite resembling a classroom.[21]

Charges

Michael Donovan, the uncle of Shannon’s stepfather, was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment in connection with the incident on 17 March 2008.[4] Donovan appeared before Dewsbury magistrates on 18 March, and was remanded in custody.[23] He then appeared at Leeds Crown Court, via a video link from his prison cell, on 26 March 2008. Donovan is due to enter pleas on the charges at a preliminary hearing on 11 July. The provisional trial date has been fixed for 11 November.[24]

Further police actions

Craig Meehan, the stepfather of Shannon, was arrested on 2 April 2008, on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.[25] He was remanded in custody, by Dewsbury Magistrates Court, at a hearing on 3 April.[26]

Amanda Hyett, the sister of Craig Meehan, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, on 4 April. She was released on police bail later that day.[27][28]

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. She was released on police bail later that day.[27][28]

Karen Matthews, the mother of Shannon, was arrested on 06 April 2008 on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.[29]

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".[30][31]

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.[32] The Brisbane Times said that Karen Matthews and Kate McCann represented two sides of the social class coin in Britain.[33] 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.[34]

Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, said on GMTV, on 7 March, that her partner Craig Meehan was not involved and that he "would not hurt anybody".[5] Meehan was also defended by Shannon's father, Leon Rose.[35] Nonetheless, Matthews and her partner, in an interview on the Today programme on 12 March, were questioned on suggestions by her parents that her partner 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.[36]

The Channel 4 Cutting Edge programme broadcast a behind-the-scenes film, on Shannon Matthews' family, on 20 March.[37]

References

  1. ^ Mark Simpson (2008-03-18). "Shannon's complex family tree". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-03-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b Search for Shannon: Biggest inquiry since Yorkshire Ripper - Yorkshire Evening Post, 11 March 2008
  3. ^ a b "Missing schoolgirl 'found alive'". BBC News. 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2008-03-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b "Michael Donovan is charged over Shannon Matthews kidnap and false imprisonment". The Times. 2008-03-18. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b "Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, defends her partner on TV", The Times, 7 March 2008
  6. ^ "Missing Shannon Matthews's mother: 'Someone who knows her knows something'", The Times, March 3, 2008
  7. ^ "Missing girl police 'fear worst'", BBC News, 26 February 2008
  8. ^ "Police quiz 1,500 drivers in hunt for missing Shannon", Yorkshire Post, 28 February 2008
  9. ^ a b "Search for Shannon: 3,000 homes to be searched", Yorkshire Evening Post, 5 March 2008
  10. ^ Shannon search is largest in 25 years - Dewsbury Reporter, 11 March 2008
  11. ^ Andrew Hirst (12 March, 2008). "Over half UK's sniffer dogs used in search for Shannon". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Newspaper Offers £20K To Find Shannon", Sky News, March 01, 2008
  13. ^ "Shannon hunt 'near Ripper scale'", BBC News, 11 March 2008
  14. ^ "Firm's £5,000 Shannon reward", Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner, February 29, 2008
  15. ^ "Missing Shannon Matthews Appeal", West Yorkshire Police, 7 March 2008
  16. ^ "Missing girl: mother's 999 call released", Elizabeth Stewart, The Guardian, 5 March 2008
  17. ^ "Website bid to raise Shannon awareness". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 12 March, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Shannon Found: Shannon made subject of care order". Yorkshire Post. 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2008-03-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "Police protection". Every Child Matters. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  20. ^ Mark Hughes (2008-03-18). "Shannon suspect charged with kidnapping". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ a b Paul Stokes (2008-03-19). "Shannon Matthews faces weeks of questioning". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Shannon Matthews Enquiry". West Yorkshire Police. 2008-03-15. Retrieved 2008-03-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  23. ^ "Man remanded over Shannon kidnap". BBC News. 2008-03-18. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Anil Dawar (2008-03-26). "Shannon kidnapping accused sent to trial". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ "Shannon stepfather in porn arrest". BBC News. 2008-04-02. Retrieved 2008-04-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ "Stepfather remanded over images". BBC News. 2008-04-03. Retrieved 2008-04-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ a b "Shannon case women freed on bail". BBC News. 2008-04-04. Retrieved 2008-04-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ a b Alexi Mostrous (2008-04-04). "Shannon Matthews: mother and sister of Craig Meehan arrested". The Times. Retrieved 2008-04-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ "Mother arrested by Shannon police". BBC_news. 2008-04-07. Retrieved 2008-04-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ Greenslade, Roy (5 March, 2008). "Why is missing Shannon not getting the same coverage as Madeleine?". Guardian Unlimited blog. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ Nicole, Martin (2 March, 2008). "Missing: The contrasting searches for Shannon and Madeleine". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  32. ^ Norfolk, Andrew (1 March, 2008). "Poor little Shannon Matthews. Too poor for us to care that she is lost?". The Times. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  33. ^ "Two mothers, two lost girls, one class system". Brisbane Times. 8 March, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  34. ^ Craig, Olga (11 March, 2008). "Missing Shannon's mother rues lack of concern". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  35. ^ "Shannon's stepfather is innocent says her real father", Daily Mail, 10 March 2008
  36. ^ Milmo, Cahal (13 March, 2008). "Missing children and the media: The wrong kind of family?". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-03-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  37. ^ "Shannon Matthews: The Family's Story". Channel 4. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2008-03-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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