Madeleine McCann, Shannon Matthews And Missing Child Protocol
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
Shannon Matthews is missing. Is the media treating her case the same way as it views Madeleine McCann? And, in light of missing Madeleine, is there now a protocol for what occurs when a child goes missing?
DAILY MIRROR: “LOST TO US ALL”
Sue Carroll: Most of us won’t have an instant recollection who Shannon Matthews is. After thinking twice, of course we all know she is the nine-year-old missing from her home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire.
But what a terrible indictment of the media that, when a child has disappeared in Britain for over a week, her name doesn’t spring to our lips, we don’t know her school, favourite toy or what she was wearing when last seen.
Shannon is as precious to her family as Madeleine McCann, missing for 300 days, is to hers. But where are the front-page pictures, campaigns, the furore? Would this be different if she was the daughter of two middle-class, mediasavvy parents? Not a working-class child from up North.
THE SUN: “Marchers wants Shannon home”
THE family of Shannon Matthews led a poignant candlelit vigil for the missing nine-year-old last night – as police admitted hopes of finding her alive looked “bleak”.
Anguished mum Karen and stepdad Craig joined 300 neighbours on a march through streets near their home.
Children carried a banner showing the youngster’s face and a hotline to ring with information.
A hotline. Like Madeleine. A vigil. There is picture of Shannon on her birthday.
Balloons bearing pleas for Shannon’s safe return were released during last night’s vigil.
THIS IS LONDON: “Police search house of missing Shannon’s uncle as detectives treat case ‘as seriously as a murder’”
A dozen police officers conducted a fingertip search of the house belonging to the uncle of missing nine-year-old Shannon Matthews today.
Officers from West Yorkshire Police filed into the property in Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor which adjoins the home of the schoolgirl who disappeared last week.
The house belongs to Neil Hyett, Shannon Matthews’ uncle, and his wife, Amanda.
Detective Superintendent Brennan, who is heading up the search, says:
“I’m convinced that if Shannon had run away that night of her own volition, in a den or hideaway of some sort, we would have found her by now - over a week on from when the investigation opened.
“It is very rare in searches of this kind that a girl of Shannon’s age should be missing for this long without any clues pointing to her whereabouts.
“It is extremely concerning and we are now looking at this on a scale as serious as a murder investigation.
“It can now be said that the tone of our enquiry has changed to a bleaker outlook.
“The shift in emphasis is that we are now looking for individuals who may have been seen on the day of her disappearance, acting suspiciously, or unknown to the local community.
“We are also appealing for anyone who may have friends or family that may have been behaving strangely since Shannon went missing, to come forward.
“At this stage, any shred of information, however insignificant it seems, may help.
“We have a grave concern that she may have fallen into the wrong hands but no arrests have been made at this point, and I must stress at this point that we are not ruling out any possibilities as to what might have happened to her.”
DAILY MAIL: “Now police say missing Shannon, 9, could have been abducted”
A week after Shannon Matthews was last seen walking away from school in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, it also emerged that another girl called Shannon escaped an abduction attempt 10 miles away earlier the same day.
Shannon Selby, 12, was walking to school alone in Wakefield when a man pulled up and ordered her to “get in this car now”.
She ran away as the man parked and made to chase her on foot.
She reached home safely and her mother rang the police.
An efit of the attacker was released yesterday.
Allison Pearson: “Poor Shannon was already a lost child”
When Madeleine McCann went missing, her parents soon came under attack for leaving their daughter alone in a holiday apartment just a couple of hundred yards from where they were having dinner.
At the time, critics claimed that if the middle-class McCanns had lived on a council estate, they would have been in trouble with the police for neglect. So where is the outcry over the disappearance of Shannon Matthews?
Only nine years old, Shannon was reported missing by her mum, Karen, at 7pm last Tuesday when she had still not walked the mile home. She was last seen leaving school at 3.10pm.
Four hours is an eternity for a little girl to be out on a dark winter’s evening. And Shannon was afraid of the dark. Why did no one walk with her or care where she was?
Karen, who has seven children by five fathers, admitted that she had found a note scrawled on her daughter’s bedroom wall saying that she wanted to go and live with her biological dad in Huddersfield.
Shannon’s friends say she told them she didn’t want to go home. But Karen insists Shannon was fine and enjoys a good relationship with her current boyfriend, 22-yearold Craig.
“Only on Monday, they were having tickling fights and telly cuddles. She views him as her dad.” Oh really? In that case, why was Shannon so desperate to be reunited with her real father? No one can doubt Karen’s anguish.
The poor woman can hardly speak, except to sob to the cameras: “Shannon, come home, please come home.” But allowing a passing parade of boyfriends to play tickling games with your vulnerable small girl is, at best, naïve
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Shannon ‘may be in the wrong hands’”
Reports that an alleged abduction attempt of another girl on the same day that Shannon disappeared a week ago were being looked into by police.
According to reports, a man in a gold Ford Mondeo tried to coax a 12-year-old into his car at about 9am in Wakefield, about six miles away.
The girl ran away from him.
THE TIMES: “Abducted, abused… survived”
Lisa Hoodless and Charlene Lunnon were abducted and raped nine years ago, aged 10. They found strength in each other to survive the four-day ordeal and, remarkably, to rebuild their lives
Alan Hopkinson was found by police with the girls huddled together in his front room. He pleaded guilty to the crime and was given nine life sentences.
And that, for the public at least, is where stories like this usually end. Children don’t often survive adbuction by men such as Hopkinson, a truth that weighs heavily on the mind as we await news of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews, missing now for more than a week. If they do survive, we rarely hear from them again.
Hope:
They say that in some ways what happened has had a positive effect on their lives. Both seem vaguely surprised that anyone would want to interview them about it because it is “not that amazing” but, in a climate in which missing girls such as Madeleine McCann dominate the news, they want to urge people never to give up searching because “children can come back”.
Posted: 27th, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (1,154) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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February 27th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Stevet
Give us a few minutes at least !!!!!
February 27th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
430
brandon flours
Now, now!
February 27th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Pilimary - as I said before I think this is another distraction. Maybe not a malicious one, but still a distraction.
What we should be asking is why are the interviews not taking place? The letters were allegedly sent on 1st Feb and received on3rd of Feb by the Home Office.
This was allegedly confirmed by Pinto Monteiro Portugal’s Public Prosecutor and by the President of Eurojust.
So either they have been misquoted - in which case they would have already clarified the matter - or they were lying to the press… in which case the Home Office would have clarified the matter.
Pending any clarifications - we have to believe that the letters are awaiting followup by the Home Office.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
416 jo
d’ya mean this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eJiZutTZMk
February 27th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Is that where the shower is steve?
February 27th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Go and stand in the corner Ade!
February 27th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
424 you made that up.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
425…Salomon ES
Probably is the same one….he tried to sell the story to a reporter.
Proved duff in the end.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
410
âde Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
405 cheryl
very funny
the mcconns have blown it.
they are universally despised and they know it
brilliant sport
________________
Iwasn’t being funny, Ade, AGW called me simpled minded one time on here “unlike those brilliant complex thinking Europeans over there”…well, let’s just say I play it tight to vest and seldom show the other side of me few would like if I did!
Administrator: If you think that was me calling you simple-minded you have another think coming. If I wanted to call you simple-minded it would have been direct and right between the eyes and you know it. Do not misrepresent the context of my posting to you or suggest I would pussy foot around on any Administrative matter. You know better Cheryl. Do not try to appear feeble-minded and coquettish by being forgetful. Falstaff-sized modesty is NOT your bag, Lady, and not at all becoming, not at all.-agw
February 27th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Matt - i think it might be the same. he didn’t mention dancing but said that he was playing with her in the sand and then they came to get an ice cream and it was at that stage that they were clearly captured by the cctv camera.
anyway - only once these interviews happen will we know.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
406…Aardvarko
“”"”After they got in the blue jeep he enquired in the hotel if they were
staying there but the people in the hotel said they were not.””””
February 27th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
419
Matt
I remember that.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
52
Ian Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 9:26 am
49
just_me
The fact that this ‘person’ doesnt understand that is highly illustrative - but I thought the McCanns lived in a perfect little world? Oh yes, perfect for kate and Garry, doesnt include their children does it.
Well, must be off, too many nasty types here today. No doubt they will be defending the people who ran the Jersey home if it turns out they are in the right echelon of society.
____________________________
Ian, your words “Well, must be off, too many nasty types here today. No doubt they will be defending the people who ran the Jersey home if it turns out they are in the right echelon of society.” I suspect you will be defending them as I recall you snickering in your comments a month ago about the “riff raff’”‘ that live in free housing over there and you’d expect them to be “child neglectors”.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Aarvardko
Salomon ES
Everything ispossible
1) the driver asked the group if they were staying at the hotel
2) the driver asked to the hotel staff because he found something suspicious in the groups’ behavious
3) They were not the mcc, as they had two rented cars
Also, I wonder why this man has waiting 9 months to speak about the episode, and decided to speak to a small Algarve paper. Was he expecting to receive some money for the declarations and the big Portuguese refused to pay him for it?
(it’s not unusual…) If his statement is true, the whole thing is important enough to have been published before… However, this man told the PJ his encounter with the group, and forgot about it… until now
February 27th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
We all now taxi drivers can lie. Try asking how long they are going to be.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
370…Salomon ES
Not sure if it is the same one….but one was debunked…and that was
the one referring to Dr G P dancing with a child…ie Madeleine.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
412 Salomon ES Says:
“409 Ferdinand
and what makes you assert that Ferdinand?”
Lurking in other forums
February 27th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
414
âde
Make sure you put in some expenses.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
410
âde
Ade
)
Have you ever watched “Go Move Shift” ?
(Nothing to do with the ongoing topic
February 27th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I don’t see anywhere that the driver went into the hotel, he asked his passengers is more likely.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The taxi driver even asked whether the group was staying there and was told that they were not. Sad because apparently they didn’t care about his testimony, António Castela says he has no doubts that it was the English child and that he believes that the child was not killed in Portugal, suggesting the possibility that she sought refuge [de se ter refugiado no original] in any of the yachtes at the marina or that she may have been taken abroad at that time.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
407 SteveT
“Where do I send the money?”
just send it in a brow envelope to
ted
c/o the doom and pasty inn
devon
i’m expecting a cheque from the slush fund
just a “donation” for helping the “search”
February 27th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
354
brandon flours Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
lone my comment is awaiting mods
————-
Mods and Admin
Take more care with how you say things please BF, had to alter one earlier as well.
Can’t change the one in Mods, rewrite it with more care then I can delete that one in Mods
______________________
Dont worry delete it
sorry!
*******
Ok!!
February 27th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
409 Ferdinand
and what makes you assert that Ferdinand?
February 27th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
409
Ferdinand
Why do you think there are no letters?
February 27th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
405 cheryl
very funny
the mcconns have blown it.
they are universally despised and they know it
brilliant sport
February 27th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Seems as if Gandolf’s assertion that there are no rogatory letters is gaining strength.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
385 Pilimary
I have to say that when I read the article I didn’t make it too big a deal that the driver asked at the hotel. In the article he seems to suggest that he found their behaviour to be very odd. Hence his questions to the hotel.
In any case I would not make much case of it. I don’t think the McCanns needed any taxi drivers. After all they had rented cars during the holidays - and after the holidays managed to clock some 540 miles in a week on the scenic. Interestingly a week when they had been traveling in Madrid (not using the car) and having quiet family days at home. Some say this is one of the aspects that they have failed to answer at police interviews… wonder why…
February 27th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
403
âde
Where do I send the money?
February 27th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
385 - Pilimary - the article doesn’t say the taxi driver asked AT THE HOTEL if they were staying there.
It only says he asked if they were staying there - I read that as he asked the group with the child if they were staying there - no doubt got a shake of the head or a grunt to indicate “No”
Just my reading of the situation, but I think it makes more sense.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
33
Maria Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Ferdinand 23
Neatly summed up!
__________
Good Morning, Maria! See the antis are hungry this morning and trying make you their breakfast! Interesting what Ian said about you …there is the pot calling the kettle black! His constant war cry is “Neglect” - and the famous line I’ll never forget from out of his mouth on here months ago “They don’t deserve to ever live a normal life.” What else has he had to offer in any debate on here when I’ve seen others try to speak their piece or argue with him but Neglect - gets pissed off when some says they didn’t take the life of their child and accuses them of being in favour of child neglect.
You’d make a great prosecutor, Ian, in the legal field. They can develop great tunnel vision on a suspect’s guilt. They can manufacture evidence, have evidence destroyed, evidence hidden, permit police to lie on the stand in their endeavors to get a suspect found guilty they think is guilty and even put behind bars for life! Well…some do walk free 13, 17 and even 27 years later when the truth comes out and it was proven what was done to them years earlier by prosecutors “over zealously doing their job to get a conviction.”
jj 17.25 27/2
Mods and Admin
Cheryl, perhaps attack Ian’s more recent arguments instead of his older ones, and less attacking the poster,it invalidates your points then