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 6:16 pm
646
jo Says:
********
exactly so why do they still get support from the Mctrolls……
February 27th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
646…jo
Isn’t that one in answer to Maria ?
February 27th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
632
Matt.
Most people think Madeleine is dead but not at her parents’ hands.
********
Morally yes they”ve killed her for NOT being present whatever has happened because she was in their hands
FULL stop.
relaw1835
February 27th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
644…jo
Happened ?
February 27th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
632
Matt.
” De rigeur”…. I think theyre just being casual really having a meeting at the Chaplin and asking may be some questions to which of course the PJ will not answer…
Do you know what happened to Juan Cortes?
bah….may be you dont want to know
February 27th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
634
Garth Says:
***********
better than the other day garf……
February 27th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
640…jo
Severe this year.
Hope you are fully recovered soon.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Ardvaarko
I did read that post of yours. Very like my own experience. Very few people actually think they are guilty. As you say, the most vocal tend to be “antis” which is why one might have the impression that Anorak is representative of public opinion. My own limited experience is that it’s not. Most people, even if they don’t like the McCanns much, still think they were victims of a terrible tragedy. Many still admire them though, for their campaign for Madeleine and for other missing children, even if they criticise them for their original poor judgement.
As you say, though, most people don’t read all the details and don’t know why some people might think they are guilty.
In my experience, very few people believe anything they read in the papers, especially the more lurid stories. The “sightings” are dismissed as nonsense and everyone I’ve ever spoken to thinks the police messed up the initial investigation, making it that much harder to get at the truth. The DNA reports were so confused, contradictory and constantly changing that people seem to have just dismissed them until further notice.
Most people think Madeleine is dead but not at her parents’ hands.
_____________
Mods and Admin
Almost all of my sympathy goes to Madeleine, her parents made unforced choices - they have to live with that, she may have died because of their choices. Until the PJ have completed their investigations we shall not know anything for sure.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
637
Matt
I am just about to getting better myself from flu.Nasty stuff
I detest being ill
February 27th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Carmen/608, try the posts of the poster Ian, that may give you some direction.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
635…jo
A noteworthy interlude.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
633…val
Had Flu.
And as I didn’t want to pass it on…I stayed offline.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
634
Garth
Is there any footage of this?
February 27th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
632
Matt
The Cortes?…. munching sardines with the PJ in portugal ….
February 27th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
631
jo Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Any interesting news?or just the same old ones?
————–
Well a mate of mine was in PDL the other day and popped into the local police station to ask which w as the quickest way to get to the town centre? The police officer asked him if he was driving or on foot………to which my mate replied ‘driving’!
He replied “Well thats the quickest way!”
February 27th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
616 Matt
Hi there, havn”t seen any posting from you for a few days and thought like so
many of the regulars, you had deserted us.!!!!!!!!
I havn”t posted much because every time I looked , there was so much bickering
and a few “dodgy” newcomers……… I couldn”t be bothered.
Not sure what this case would come under, as I mentioned to Ade, the Jersey
legal system couldn”t cope, but it is certainly going to prove sensational and
will probably leave the McCann quest for more funds in the shade.
February 27th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
631…jo
Mainly Jersey dig.
How is Mr Cortes ?
February 27th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Any interesting news?or just the same old ones?
February 27th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Ahhhh……Carmen……your lovely
February 27th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
619 Ade
Jersey has a Governor who is the Queen”s Representative, and it may be the
U.K. Courts would try any suspects, the Judicial system in Jersey would never
have the expertise.
This publicity will do Jersey no good and I will lay odds the Top dogs are
livid that Syvret managed to be heard!!!!!!
Expect you”ll be going down to the lower field soon to call Ted in for his Tea,
give him my regards.
February 27th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
i’m thinking of getting a link
it would come in very handy on here
i need to get a round tuit too
February 27th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
623 agw
well if you don’t have a laugh you just end up crying after all
fun fun fun
keeps ya young too
February 27th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
622
annie1 Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Why - I wonder - does it seem that NO cctv cameras work, anywhere. We now have this Portugese taxi driver who is CERTAIN that he picked up Madeleine, her mother (aledgedly) and four blokes - dropped them at a hotel at around 8pm on the night she supposedly disappeard - and now, and only now, nearly ten months down the line does he say anything - and guess what? the cctv cameras where he dropped them all off were broken. Either a chancer or another red herring - in my humble opinion.
—————
What all this about Annie? Have you a link?
February 27th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
ade: joins in
602 agw
i didn’t bother to answer her
not much fun in that, after all
Administrator: I get the last laugh, but enjoy a belly laugh along the way. I’m sure you knew that. -agw
February 27th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Why - I wonder - does it seem that NO cctv cameras work, anywhere. We now have this Portugese taxi driver who is CERTAIN that he picked up Madeleine, her mother (aledgedly) and four blokes - dropped them at a hotel at around 8pm on the night she supposedly disappeard - and now, and only now, nearly ten months down the line does he say anything - and guess what? the cctv cameras where he dropped them all off were broken. Either a chancer or another red herring - in my humble opinion.
February 27th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
618
Carmen Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
—————–
So ‘guilty of neglect but don’t know any more’ makes you an ‘anti’ does it?
——————-
Chill……..dont get hasty……….I forgot the cynical smilie. Trust me
February 27th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
nîtë brándøn
February 27th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
610 val
good point about them being dead
however people are still finding living examples of ww2 ss guards to prosecute and they were in action thirty years before. one recently in canada.
i reckon there’s a few still alive and i reckon mr syvret knows one or two of ‘em
could be fun watching them wriggle
February 27th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
613…brandon flours
G’night brandon.
Have a great evening.
February 27th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
581
brandon flours Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
rockhopper
It seems false, showy, and self serving to me.
Whatever happened to a dignified show of support? A simple nod of respect or a pat on the back. smile and handshake.
==========
c ya
Culture of false celebrity, anyway I’m outta here, probs with my kids, going home with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.