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A 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of abducting schoolgirl Shannon Matthews who was found alive 24 days after she disappeared.
(Advertisement)The nine-year-old was discovered by police in the base of a divan bed at a flat in Batley Carr, about a mile from her home in Dewsbury.
Police smashed their way into a flat and emerged carrying Shannon, neighbours said. The young girl looked "quite calm" and officers confirmed that she was fine.
In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: "As part of ongoing investigations, detectives and specialist search officers attended a house at Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, Dewsbury, at 12.30pm this afternoon.
"During a search of the house, officers located Shannon Matthews who was found concealed in the base of a divan bed. A 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of abduction at the address and is currently in custody at a West Yorkshire police station.
"Shannon is currently in the care of West Yorkshire Police. Investigations are ongoing."
A local resident 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."
Shannon had not been seen since she disappeared after a school swimming trip in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on February 19.
Ms Hyett said the schoolgirl’s mother Karen Matthews had been driven away by police from the family home shortly before 2pm.
Shannon’s father has said he is "over the moon" that his daughter had been found alive and said being reunited with her would be like "winning the lottery". He also thanked everyone who helped in the search for her.
Earlier this week, the 32-year-old mother-of-seven said she believed someone she knows had snatched her daughter to hurt her. But Mrs Matthews said she did not know who could have taken the shy youngster.
Mrs Matthews said: "She got abducted. That’s all I can say."
Asked if she thought it was someone she knew whotook her, she said: "It seems that way because there’s no trace of her at all.
"There’s no trace of her swimming costume, her towel or anything like that that she’s taken with her."
And asked why someone close to her would do it, Mrs Matthews replied: "Just to hurt me, really."
my god, that’s so scary that poor girl just lucky she’s home iwth the ones who love her and hopefully can overcome all that happened to her
I heard she was found in the base of a bed but didnt hear if she was dead of alive…..
Thank God for small miracles, its such a pity all cases dont end up like this…….. Poor Maddie is missing almost a year now 😥 😥 😥 😥 😥 😥
32 and a mother of seven, wow, she is a busy woman 😯 They seemed a very poor family but the kids looked loved…. Im sure its better then winning the Lotto.
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