UK NEWS

SWIM COSTUME 'IS KEY TO FINDING SHANNON'

MISSING: Schoolgirl Shannon Matthews

Wednesday March 5,2008

By Paul Jeeves

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MISSING schoolgirl Shannon Matthews’ striking pink and blue swimming costume may be the key to her whereabouts, police said last night.

They believe the two-piece costume is so distinctive that it could lead them to the nine-year-old, who disappeared after a school swimming lesson.

Det Supt Andy Brennan said that officers had been unable to trace a single identical costume because Shannon’s had been bought by her grandmother a few years ago at a Scarborough Easter market and was currently not on sale in the high street.

The costume, which Shannon was carrying in a plastic bag as she left Dewsbury Leisure Centre in West Yorkshire, is pink with navy blue fish motifs on the top and bottom.

Although a two-piece, it is not a bikini but instead a “tank” top with cross-over straps at the back.

Shannon, who has been missing for 15 days, also had with her a blue, striped towel. The last confirmed sighting of Shannon was at 3.10pm on February 19 when three teachers saw her leave Westmoor Junior School alone.

Her mother, Karen Matthews, 32, alerted police in a 999 call at 6.48pm.

Det Supt Brennan said that police had managed to gather Shannon’s fingerprints and a full DNA profile from her bedroom and school textbooks.

Yesterday the police made a fresh appeal to the local community to cast their minds back to the fog-bound Tuesday, when Shannon disappeared and report anything or anyone unusual they had spotted.

Karen said: “Every night I cry myself to sleep and I can’t bear to go into Shannon’s bedroom. She’s not the type of child to go running away, I can’t understand why.”

She believes her daughter has been abducted by someone the family knew and trusted, and she said that her whole family did not feel safe any more.

Karen broke down in tears as she added: “I think someone out there, who knows Shannon, has her. It makes me think I can’t trust the people who are really close to me any more.”

But Det Supt Brennan said: “Clearly, if I knew that was the case I would have concentrated solely on that area of work, but we cannot discount anything at this stage. We are liaising and working with all family members.

“They have all been very co-operative.”

He added: “We will continue to deal with it as a potential missing person inquiry.

“Simultaneously and realistically we’re also dealing with the fact that this could be something more sinister.”

Sniffer dogs have been used to search more 500 homes in Dewsbury and detectives have also questioned known sex offenders in the area.

Around 3,000 properties, including homes and commercial premises, have been searched in the Dewsbury area.

MY HEART GOES OUT TO SHANNON'S MUM KAREN

05.03.08, 2:15pm

I pray that Shannon will be found safe and sound. I wish the world were safe and sound for children everywhere. It is not, not for Shannon, not for Madeleine, and it wasn't for Riley Ann Sawyers found off the coast of Galveston, Texas, a victim of her own parents.

The world has become a violent place in many regards. Children kidnapped while doing the most ordinary things; people killed by the Yobs in Britain, by the shooters in the USA, random killings that make no sense and leave families devastated; and in addition the wars where innocent people are dying in the thousands. Then there's Darfur, genocide which the world for the most part chooses to ignore.

I pray God that people will be safe today, that Shannon will return home, that Mari Luz in Spain will return home, and that we get some good news about Madeleine. It is too much to hope that things will change with regard to the random and horrific shootings at Malls, schools and restaurants in the U.S., and that somehow Britain will get control of the streets from the Yobs there, but I pray.

• Posted by: Rothaymere • Report Comment