Previous Day
UK police question abduction suspect
Police in Britain have been given extra time to question a man suspected of abducting schoolgirl Shannon Matthews.
The 39-year-old man, who has not been named by police, was arrested on Friday after the nine-year-old was found in the base of a bed a mile from her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
He went before magistrates yesterday evening where a warrant for further detention was granted.
Media have named him as Michael Donovan, formerly known as Paul Drake, an uncle of Matthew's stepfather Craig Meehan.
Police will also continue the delicate task of talking to Matthews to find out what happened to the youngster between her disappearance from the gates of her school in Dewsbury and her dramatic rescue 24 days later.
West Yorkshire police rejected suggestions in the media by MEP Edward McMillan-Scott that they would have found her quicker if they had used an amber alert scheme.
At one stage, 10 per cent of the force's officers were involved in helping in the search.
They said the scheme is designed for use in potential child abductions where a vehicle or partial vehicle details are known.
"As such its use would have been wholly inappropriate in this case and the suggestion it could have somehow speeded up Shannon's recovery is totally inaccurate," the force said in a statement.
Matthews' mother Karen said she "just couldn't stop crying" on seeing her again.
"When I first saw Shannon again I was overwhelmed - I just couldn't stop crying, knowing she's back where she belongs and she's safe.
"I never gave up hope and now she'll be able to come home and sleep in her room again. We've got her new pink bedding which she'll love."
Her father Leon Rose was equally overjoyed, saying "I am buzzing over it, especially since Shannon has been found alive. I'm over the moon."
The family hopes Matthews, who is the subject of an emergency police protection order, will return home today.
The youngster had gone missing on February 19th after a swimming trip, prompting one of the biggest investigations in the area since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry of the late 1970s.
She was discovered in the base of a bed at a flat in Batley Carr after police smashed their way in on Friday.
