Shannon Matthews Found Alive In Bed: Updates
SHANNON Matthews found alive - the story so far and updates can be found here…
TOM WATSON: “Keeping your kids close”
“Technology makes it easier to keep tabs on your kids. A new GPS device will allow parents to identify where there kids are hanging out at the click of a button. The Spot (satellite personal tracker) has an emergency button and text options. Parents can track where their kids are on Google maps. There’s also mobilelocators.com which can track an individual mobile phone. A search starts at 20p.”
Not that the Labour MP advocates chipping your children. He just wants us to join the debate. It’s the New Labour trick. If you’re an MP and get caught out saying something you believe in but that makes other people pall, all you need do is say you were joining the debate.
THE TIMES: “The Maths Of Shannon Matthews”
Here’s what Geoff Newiss reported to the Home Office in 1999 following a programme of research:
“The majority of ‘vulnerable’ missing persons do not meet with tragic consequences.
“The Police National Missing Persons Bureau (PNMPB) collects vulnerable missing person reports which are still outstanding after 14 days. Of the 2,197 missing persons entered onto their database in 1997/8, 1,561 (71.0%) had been traced by the end of the year.
“Only 938 reports related to missing persons under the age of 18, of which 692 (73.8%) had been traced by the end of the year.”
And:
The Missing People charity broadly concurs:
A Home Office study in 2003 found that the chance of a missing person being the victim of homicide to be around 1 in 7,400.
The risk varies enormously with age. Teenagers faced the lowest risk, simply because of the large numbers going missing relative to the number of cases involving homicide.
Young children, below the age of 10, faced at least twice the risk of being the victim of homicide than the average across all ages.
THE TIMES: “It’s over. Now for the demons.”
“Keenly sensitive to their own family’s anxiety, they also often seek to protect their parents from what they have been through.”
DAILY TELGRAPH: “It is reported that the 39 yr old man who faces charges of abducting her is a relative of Shannons’ stepfather. I wonder what kind of animal can watch the suffering of his own family whilst he continues to hold the child for his own perverted reasons. Whether Shannon has been assaulted or not, this mans actions must be those of someone with a pretty sick mind.”
Nothing reported. No sources given. The writer is given as “Phil Slocombe”. He writes ifor an online section called “My Telegraph”. His grammar is poor as his research. His byline says he’s in China. He may have to stay there.
We report it and do not like it. We will not discuss it. It remains alledged. The important point here is a nine-year-old is still with us and that makes Good News. The remainder is a healing process and we should all help with that.
CRN: “In a bizarre piece of commentary the parents of missing 4 year old Madeleine have been quoted as saying that they are ‘delighted’ that Shannon has been safely returned to her family. It is likely that Shannon’s family will be able to continue their celebrations without the need for other media hungry people to get involved.”
WASTING POLICE TIME: “There’s been a lot of rubbish talked lately about how Shannon’s case hadn’t received the media coverage others have, and lots of insinuation that people don’t really care about kids from less than idyllic homes. I can tell you from personal experience that this is balls, certainly as far as police operations go. The incident room oop north will have been full of lots of ordinary human beings, lots of them mums and dads themselves, going through a range of emotions, from weak hope to black despair.”
ELLEE SEYMOUR: “It will also put an end to the cruel media speculation which the Matthews and McCann families have endured, the comparisons made between coverage of Shannon and Madeleine McCann’s disappearances based on their different backgrounds.”
DAILY TELGRAPH: “Dozens of relatives, friends and neighbours spilled from their homes to gather outside the family house in celebration drinking champagne, beer and wine.”
THE GUARDIAN: “Who do we blame?”
Beatrix Campbell is harping on:
The story of Shannon Matthews’ disappearance - and dramatic reappearance, apparently alive and well, today - has confirmed the degree to which class is still the cultural register in our purportedly classless society.
The comparison between Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews is saturated by class. It isn’t just a matter of resources, and which children attract our attention. The comparison registers class as a courier of moral tales. Both stories dramatise the distribution of virtue and blame that fixes the working class and the middle class in moral hierarchies.
And on:
No one thought Karen Matthews had abducted or killed her daughter - and yet she has been judged. Some commentators think they can say anything they like about this woman and even to her. She has spoken with reticent dignity, yet her class makes her available for blame. The McCanns are official suspects. And yet - unlike Karen Matthews - they are presumed innocent.
THE TIMES: “Who’s who in the extended family of Shannon Matthews”
It has been reported that Shannon was found in the flat of one of Mr Meehan’s relatives.
THE TIMES: “Shannon’s happy ending ‘offers hope to others’”
An estimated 210,000 reports of missing people are made to British police forces each year. Around two-thirds of these concern young people under the age of 18. Most missing people return safe and well within 72 hours of going missing.
The parents of Madeleine McCann, who has been missing for 10 months after disappearing from their Algarve holiday apartment, said the discovery of Shannon had given them fresh hope.
EVENING TIMES: “Man held after missing Shannon found alive”
Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann, were among the first to welcome the news. Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the news gave them hope.
He said: “Kate and Gerry are aware that she has been found alive. They feel that is excellent news, they are delighted that she is alive. They will not comment more until they know the full circumstances. Suffice to say that they will keep on looking until they have a happy resolution in Madeleine’s case.
“It proves that children can go missing for whatever reason and still be found alive. Until Kate and Gerry know what has happened to Madeleine, there will always be hope for them that she too will be found alive. They will keep on looking as long as there is hope.”
SPENBOROUGH GUARDIAN: “Shannon Matthews latest”
5.04pm - A banner has been put up in the street where Shannon lives welcoming her home. It has been signed by her friends and family.
Family, friends and neighbours who are celebrating the news in the street said they hoped to see the youngster back home tonight.
THE GUARDIAN: “The troubled times of the Matthews family”
While West Yorkshire police was carrying out its biggest missing person investigation since the Yorkshire Ripper, the family of Shannon Matthews have been involved in a remarkable series of claims and counter-claims.
Watching the parents.
YORKSHIRE EVENING POST: “MISSING Shannon Matthews has been found safe and well.”
Police confirmed the news today - 24 days since she went missing in Dewsbury. Her disappearance sparked the biggest manhunt in West Yorkshire since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry.
Unofficial reports suggested the nine-year-old had been found at a house believed in the neighbouring town of Batley Carr in Lidgate Gardens.
Police officially confirmed that a man had been arrested in connection with the discovery of Shannon.
AFP: “A resident in the neighbouring town of Batley Carr told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I have just seen Shannon being taken out of a house in Batley Carr. She is safe and well.”
INDEPENDENT: “A local resident, who did not want to give her name, said: “One of my neighbours heard banging.”
“When he went outside, police were breaking the door down - the man wouldn’t come out so they broke in.
“Apparently they found her in bed. He said she was quite calm. Police carried her out.
“My neighbour asked, ‘is it Shannon?” and the policeman just said, ‘yes’ and said she was OK.”
The neighbour said rumours in the street suggested that the man who occupied the flat where Shannon was found lived alone and had children who had been taken into care.
She added: “We haven’t seen him for two or three years. But apparently he’s come back.”
The woman who lives downstairs from him tipped off police after hearing footsteps, she said.
POLICE: Shannon found in base of diven bed. A 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of abduction.
EVENING COURIER: Leon Rose, who grew up in Mixenden, Halifax, before moving to Huddersfield, said: “I’m buzzing at her being found obviously but need to wait for everything to sink in.”
LEON ROSE: “Like winning the lottery.”
Posted: 14th, March 2008 | In: Tabloids Comments (82) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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March 14th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
evening all, really really good news, lifts you up
What a bloddy surprise that clarrie gets interviewd by sky! 
March 14th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Hopefully the neighbour who reported it all will get it, thank god for nosey neighbours!
March 14th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I wonder if the reward for her safe return will be paid out to anyone?
March 14th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
So happy to hear that she is found safe and well. It gives us just a small glimour of hope that other missing children may be found rich or poor.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
sorry….been able to sleep…..i’m just so happy my typing has gone to pot. lol
March 14th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I’ve just watched an interview with shannon’s dad, he looked sooo happy, and he says he will ‘have a good sleep tonight, as he hasn’t benn sleep for almost a month’.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I know CSN, there are still lots of little children not found, but tonight i am delighted for this one and her family, it’s the best news i’ve heard in a long time. I will keep smiling.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
38
Ian
Sadly there are many other children still not found and my thoughts are with them often. Just now however I can’t help but feel so happy at hearing this news. I hope she is not damaged to deeply after all that has happend.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
41
Dee
That’s sad
March 14th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
40
brandon flours
Nope
didn’t have time
I’m going to check it
March 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
No, she had been abducted, by a distant family member apparently, but a neighbour had reported strange things happening in this man’s flat.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
CSN
did you see jolies post on the other thread sad news about poor mari ?
March 14th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Is she ok?
Did she runnway from home ?
March 14th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
36
Evening All
Now all we need is Maddie back. Sadly there is no hope for Mari - she has gone.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
34
Gandolf
Yes - I have been amazed at how many people though it was ok to leave 4 year olds alone even in a locked apartment, let alone in an unlocked apartment with two little two year olds!
It seems that parental care is a thing of the past.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
This has put a smile on my face. Such good news.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Woo Hoo, just heard the news, what a good day. Young Shannon has been found and alive too.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Ian, all my thoughts at this time are with Shannon and Madeleine, I dare not attempt to say what I think, what a cesspit humanity has become, or perhaps it has always been this way and I was to naive to notice.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Someone called Vera from Sky posted this….
The McCann’s were at Chaplin’s. I do know that for sure because me, my daughter and granddaughter were there at the time. I didn’t see the McCann’s being asked to return to see to their child because we left fairly early as my granddaughter was tired.
I did overhear some of the MW staff talking about this fact the next morning who were chatting amongst themselves as I was in the reception area waiting for my daughter and granddaughter to meet me there, that was the same day that Madeleine went missing.
Their opinion of the parents attitude of leaving their children alone each night wasn’t exactly flattering and according to them, that’s why MW’s offered them a babysitter for free for the night of the 3rd of May. I don’t deliberately listen to other people’s conversations but if you are standing round waiting for someone you can’t block out what you hear people talking about.
I also overheard a woman telling the police on one of the following days about a child was crying for a long time as I was standing fairly close by, but I didn’t know that she was talking about Madeleine at the time.
I also saw Robert Murat helping with the translations. I didn’t know his name at the time and only discovered it when I read it in the newspaper. I can’t say I took any more notice of him than any other person that was around.
As I said before, Murat and David Payne are amazingly alike and anyone could easily be confused as to which person any witnesses did see walking around the area on the night of the 3rd of May. I wouldn’t have noticed either of them except that they were standing near to each other and would probably have just thought that they were brothers or something but that is all that registered with me at the time.
The McCann’s were the one’s that people noticed as it was their child that was missing.
I don’t know what happened to Madeleine but I’m sure it will eventually come out in the ‘wash’ when the PJ get answers to their questions. They could all be guilty or innocent as far as I know.
Their avoidance of answering some questions directed at them at interviews makes me wonder what they and their friends might be hiding though. But that would only be my personal opinion of them.
I have seen and heard every single live interview (I don’t take any notice of what the papers print) that they have given and have noticed that their version of what happened that night has changed with each interview especially Gerry’s version of events of when he checked up on the children.
In the first interview he said that he saw Madeleine asleep.
In the second interview he said that she was not in bed and had probably gone into their room as the twins might have disturbed her (these are the same twins that never wake up at night, just as Madeleine, according to her parents, never wakes up at night).
In the third interview, Gerry said that he didn’t see Madeleine and he thought that she might have got up to go to the toilet. He didn’t check though.
In the fourth interview Gerry said that he didn’t see her because she had probably got up for a drink of water. Again he didn’t check this out.
In another interview with the magazine Vanity Fair, he said that he saw Madeleine in her bed and stood there looking at her and thinking how very lucky he was to have such a beautiful daughter.
This was not a live interview, but I found the complete transcript of the interview on the VF website and every sigh or hesitation in replying was written down.
I saw the McCann’s before and after Madeleine’s disappearance as did other people who were on holiday. I didn’t really take any notice of their behaviour beforehand as they were just people on holiday. I’ll keep my opinion of them to myself as to their behaviour afterwards. The only thing I can say is that they seemed upset on the night when they gave their first interview (I only saw that on the news) but as for how they acted after that, I will leave you to come to your own conclusions. If you have seen them on the t.v. you can take a guess as to what I think.
All the people on holiday gave statements to the police and anything that was said to the PJ has to stay known only to them until they wish it to be made known to the public or not, so I can’t tell anyone about that either.
Interesting huh?
March 14th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Sorry, Carmen, I’m still on about her anyway!
But then I just read what the McCanns have said already!
They have ‘new hope’ as Shannons been found alive. Presumably they had ‘less hope’ when the autopsy of the little Spanish girl was reported as showing she had been suffocated?
Poor dears.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Exactement!
March 14th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
23
Gandolf
I gotta say, your attitude appears to have mellowed recently - glad to see it.
At risk of spoiling it, I have a bee in my bonnet - why didn’t Kate McCann just check next door with Jane Tanner before rushing off back to the Tapas bar (or yelling across from the balcony, whichever story we take as truth). Surely you’d not ascend into panic so quickly?
Any thoughts?
March 14th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Suzy, Ian, AN Other,
Please don’t start banging on about the b loody McC’s in this one as well.
Gandy is right (ish) ; they’re good enough at self-promotion without being ably assisted by others.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Mic, the other loony lot of us are giving it great guns on the MM & SM thread
March 14th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
19
suzi
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Like they think Madeleine can ever be found safe and well!
Kate McCann didnt check to see if Jane Tanner had taken Maddie to her apartment but launched into screaming and yelling that Madeleine had been abducted.
If that isnt odd, I dont know what is.
Maybe a pro-McCann might explain that one?
March 14th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
amazing….
Biggest story re; missing kids to break in months, and this thread gets 21 posts in just under 2 hours.
No news for months re: MM and the posts come faster (and thicker…) than you can shake a stick at.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I see those who are sick to death of you know who, have managed to give you know who, the oxygen of publicity over on this thread, you couldn’t make it up, but they do, they do.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
If anyone has a 192 account there are TWO adults on the electorial role for 26 Lidgate Gardens. Log in and hey presto a name!
March 14th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
21 Mic
Maybe all those who spent time attacking Shannons family can turn their vitriol to somewhere more appropriate? Like any parents who left a 4 year old and her twin 2 year old siblings all alone?
If there are any such parents out there…somewhere?
March 14th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Just listened to the Dad (Leon?) on the radio.
He sounded thoroughly chuffed. I was impressed with his no-nonsense attitude. He stuck to the rules, answered the questions, and came across as a thoroughly decent bloke and relieved father.
Unlike others I could mention…
He says he always believed that she was alive. He had a damn sight m ore faith than I did; I am genuinely gobsmacked by this news,as was everyone at work when we heard about it.
Good luck to the (fragmented) family. Let’s hope that you can put the speculation, sniping and hate behind you, and move on in life.