- 16 hours ago
Untold: The Disappearance of Shannon Matthews - Season 1 Episode 1
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00:09That afternoon we were going to swimming baths from school and as usual me and Shannon paired
00:16up together straight away. When that was over we got on the coach back together. Once we got off
00:25the coach, something didn't seem right. Because her mum told her her brother was picking her
00:34up that day after school but he never showed up. Normally if like she sends one of the kids
00:44to pick Shannon up from school they'd be waiting outside the gates before we even got there.
00:49But there was no one there. That was literally like the last time I saw her.
01:14The first thing that goes through your head if your daughter's missing is who's gone.
01:23Literally from the moment she'd walked out of those school gates there was not one positive sighting.
01:31How can Shannon go missing on a state like that when everybody knows each other?
01:38Hundreds of police are involved in a desperate search tonight.
01:47There were lots of people on the sex offenders register who not only had direct links to
01:54Shannon's family but also lived in close proximity.
02:03What is it true?
02:06What is it true?
02:17What is it true?
02:19Hiya.
02:20I want to talk about her missing please.
02:30Right.
02:31How old is she?
02:32Nine.
02:33Nine?
02:34Yeah.
02:34When did you last see her?
02:36She went to school this morning.
02:37Have you been in touch with the school?
02:40Have you been in touch with the school?
02:40Can they confirm with her?
02:41She went to school a normal time that came possibly?
02:44Right.
02:46What do you call her?
02:48Shannon Matthews.
02:49Has she been missing before?
02:51No.
02:51First time.
03:00I was doing my ironing and one of my neighbours said to me, can we open community centre?
03:06She said because one of Karen's kids gone missing.
03:10I left my kids at home and we just stayed down at community house.
03:15Put hot lights on just in case.
03:17She decided to come home in the middle of the night.
03:21The weather were horrendous.
03:22It was raining, it was freezing.
03:24The wind was just bitter.
03:27A nine year old wouldn't want to be out in it.
03:46The next morning police had checked out what houses and everywhere that they could think of that she would go
03:51to.
03:53Nobody had heard out from her.
03:56And by that time, everybody were worried.
04:14Well, I got the call as I was driving to work, seven o'clock one morning from my DCI, asking
04:20me to gather my team together to go to Dewsbury Police Station.
04:24The homicide and major inquiry team have responsibility for kidnaps and abductions.
04:31Shannon had never been missing before.
04:33It was unusual.
04:34It was out of character.
04:35And nobody had seen her hiding the hair of her basically.
04:40So West Yorkshire Police made the decision to put as many resources as possible into the search for Shannon Matthews.
04:51There are more than 250 police officers searching for Shannon Matthews in back gardens, in homes and in bins.
04:58The search for Shannon is now an urgent one.
05:05I got a call to say a young girl hadn't returned home from school.
05:10I got in my car, raced against time, put a completely new address into my sat nav and found myself
05:17on Dewsbury Moor.
05:21By the time I arrived, the police search was in full swing.
05:29It was so cold.
05:46The search is going on tonight.
05:48I can already feel the temperatures are dropping to roundabout freezing, but we've heard that the very latest information that
05:53Shannon had in fact told some of her friends she was planning to run away.
05:57Let's hope that she is found safe and well very, very soon.
06:08It was the second night that we were missing that and everything came together.
06:13Everybody just started coming forward saying, right, is there what we can do, what we can do?
06:17And we just came up with just, all we can do is go out looking.
06:20Right, can you just come in so they can tell you where to search?
06:24My mum was the one that led the search.
06:28The street were really busy because everybody were out, like, panicking.
06:32It was crazy, everybody were just out and kids were getting upset because nobody had seen her.
06:40The first thing that goes through your head if your daughter's missing, especially your daughter, I mean,
06:45the first thing you'd be thinking is, who's got her?
06:47What are they doing to her?
06:55One by one, the street filled with van after van after satellite dish after satellite.
07:03Suddenly you were becoming aware that this was a big story.
07:12Good evening, hundreds of police are involved in a desperate search tonight for a nine-year-old girl
07:17who is missing from home in West Yorkshire.
07:20Shannon Matthews hasn't been seen since leaving school yesterday.
07:23All day today, Shannon Matthews' mother has been waiting inside the family home here,
07:27waiting in vain for her nine-year-old daughter to come home.
07:31She's been inside the house all day.
07:42Shannon, if you're out there, please, darling, come home.
07:44We love you so much.
07:45Me and your dad, your brothers, your sisters, everybody loves you.
07:49Your dad's missing you so much, Shannon.
07:51He's even out looking for you.
07:53Please come home, Shannon, if you're out there, come home.
07:56If anybody's got my daughter, my beautiful prince's daughter, please bring her home safe.
08:01On that media appeal, Karen looked rough.
08:03It looked like she cried buckets.
08:05The bags under her eyes, everything.
08:10Everybody felt for her.
08:12I was sat at home, just watching it on satellite.
08:15I started crying because nobody knew what had happened.
08:25It got to the point where I thought, they're not going to find her, she's not going to come home.
08:32She's dead.
08:42With me working at the Knowles Hill School, which was the main infant school on Marside Estate,
08:46we used to read with the children in the class.
08:51And Shannon Matthews is one of the children that I used to read with.
08:56Shannon was a very quiet young girl.
09:00She always had a smile for me.
09:02She always seemed happy.
09:07My name's Megan Aldridge and I was Shannon's best friend.
09:11From day one at school, like, we just got along.
09:14We clicked, like, we were, like, pretty much the same person.
09:18If you get what I mean.
09:20We just used to mess about at school all the time.
09:22Like, as soon as we see each other, that's it.
09:24We'd run up to each other and pretty much jump on each other.
09:38We just got along with each other more than we did with anybody else in school.
09:44Because me and her used to get bullied all the time.
09:48It was horrible.
09:51We were getting bullied for the same reasons.
09:55The way we used to dress and how we'd have his hair for school and stuff like that.
10:04Shannon was not the kind of child that went roaming, she'd go to school and straight home.
10:10She didn't roam around the estate like some of the children.
10:16So, it was a mystery how somebody managed to kidnap Shannon, really.
10:46More than 200 police officers as well as her family, friends and neighbours are involved in the search to find
10:52Shannon.
10:56I'm Paul Cattlewell.
10:58I was a detective constable on the homicide and major enquiry team.
11:03I have a daughter myself.
11:05I couldn't imagine losing a child in such circumstances.
11:12Can't even begin to comprehend what that must feel like.
11:18I attended the first briefing.
11:21It was as big a briefing, personnel-wise, as I've attended in my police career.
11:34Every time we looked out that window, there were police.
11:39They had dogs.
11:40They had the sticks to search in the long bushes.
11:42The helicopter were out.
11:46They were even stopping cars to see if they'd seen Shannon.
11:56They had no idea what had happened to Shannon.
11:58And so we had to cover every avenue and every possibility.
12:08When a child goes missing, or indeed with any police investigation, the first golden rule is you've got to clear
12:15the ground from underneath your feet.
12:19You've got to know what's going on.
12:21You've got to know what's going on.
12:22You need to understand your victimology.
12:25And in that respect, you're going to get all those answers from the family and the nearest and dearest.
12:34So I met Karen Matthews at Jewsby Police Station.
12:38I explained to Karen what we needed and what we wanted.
12:44We had spent nearly six hours with Karen, getting all the background information in relation to Shannon and what she
12:51usually did with the time and who her friends were.
12:56And certainly, Karen Matthews did paint a rosy picture of the family life.
13:07I went with other officers, including the family liaison officers, to search Shannon's bedroom and obtain any items that may
13:18be of relevance.
13:24And as we entered the property, Karen never even looked up or engaged or acknowledged her.
13:31It was our entry.
13:33We just went about our business almost as though she weren't there.
13:52We got our school books and we got a composite set of Shannon's fingerprints so that we had a reference
13:59point.
13:59So that when we were searching anywhere, we could send in fingerprint experts to examine premises to see if she'd
14:06been in there.
14:14We introduced forensic scientists to those houses as well to search for traces of blood or body fluids.
14:22We introduced forensic scientists to those houses as well to search for traces of blood or body fluids.
14:37We could send cardinal dogs.
14:39We could send cardinal dogs within the UK.
14:40We deployed 18 of those.
14:48they searched everybody's house there were five officers and a dog that turned up to mine
14:54they searched my kitchen every room in my house they put the dog up in the loft
15:00obviously didn't find anything but didn't leave any grays like they looked everywhere
15:16I remember the police coming to me and asking if I'd go out in the van to help look for
15:20her
15:28we were on like the greenway and stuff where all foxholes and stuff like that
15:33at the thought she might be down there and that made me think
15:40they're not going to find her she's not going to come home
16:02literally from the moment she'd walked out of those school gates
16:06there was not one positive sighting
16:13no sign no sightings no discovery of any belongings
16:23it was almost as though she'd walked out of those school gates and disappeared off the face of the
16:33I was just so confused about how she'd gone missing
16:38she wasn't seen going into a car there were no strangers or anything like that so it's confusing
16:43and I was just thinking how could she have gone missing
17:06the search goes on for Shannon Matthews still missing after four days
17:16family friends and neighbors of the nine-year-old have scoured the Dewsbury area while day and night a team
17:21of 250 police officers are doing the same
17:31West Yorkshire police have released new CCTV footage showing nine-year-old Shannon Matthews just before she disappeared
17:41this was the day that she went missing she'd been to the weekly school swimming lesson at the local baths
17:50I remember at the time thinking this will really help
18:15the last afternoon I saw her
18:17something didn't seem right
18:23because her mum told her her brother was picking her up that day after school
18:28but he never showed up
18:32normally if like she sends one of the kids to pick Shannon up from school
18:36they'd be waiting outside the gates before we even got there
18:40but there was no one there
18:48the last time I seen her she was walking down the road from school
18:53even though she should have been walking up the road
18:59I thought it were a bit weird
19:02especially when she wouldn't walk home on her own
19:04she never walked home on her own
19:12she were walking downwards
19:14not up
19:15a different way home you mean
19:17yeah
19:19what's it been like without Shannon being here
19:21I'm really, really sad
19:26and if you know where she's just call
19:30and tell us where she is
19:38okay
19:55good evening
19:56morning on look north west yorkshire police now fear that nine-year-old
20:00shannon matthews was snatched from the streets of jewsbury
20:13I was 18 years old when I became a journalist
20:15my very first story was the yorkshire ripper
20:30the yorkshire ripper was the biggest manhunt west yorkshire has ever had
20:37and although the time was so different
20:40although it was a build of five years during the the ripper investigation that grew and grew
20:46the same level of anxiety
20:49the same level of anger
20:54who could have done this
20:56was very palpable
21:02what police say quite categorically that due to the number of resources they've had
21:07on the streets day and night
21:09that if the little girl was hiding
21:10they would have found her
21:18we were alive to the possibility
21:21that
21:22she could well have been abducted
21:24and was not going to turn up
21:26alive again
21:48it was a surprise to everybody in in the investigation team the actual number of people who were on the
21:57investigation
21:57the sex offenders register within that locality
22:03it's like dropping a pebble into a pond isn't it and the ripples tend to go out forever
22:13there were so many the task ahead of us was they're not insurmountable but it was it was it was
22:20it was going to be a serious uh undertaking
22:24Nick and myself would
22:26we would trace interview and eliminate or in fact raise the profile of people of interest
22:34uh people who were on the sex offenders register
22:40each had to be seen and uh
22:42alibied
22:45the names just kept coming at us and the work just kept piling up
22:53we knew on the estate that the coppers were checking out pedo's houses
22:59because they searched their houses first they made it so obvious where pedos live
23:04i was more amazed at how many were actually living near the schools
23:09we've got two schools we had um infant school and junior school
23:13and the amount of pedos on that footpath to both schools was unbelievable
23:31it wasn't just that we registered sex offenders within the district
23:36there was the fact that sex offenders were visiting the district
23:42we know on the day that shannon was reported missing two bail hostels in the area
23:48they'd been holding counseling sessions and there were actual sex offenders coming from outside the
23:53district into dewsbury
24:12that data points to the fact that in 76 percent of cases where a child has been abducted for sexual
24:20purposes
24:20they'll be found dead within six hours
24:24within 12 hours you can guarantee that 96 percent will be dead
24:29and within three days a hundred percent
24:34there were lots of people on the sex offenders register
24:38who not only had direct links to shannon's family
24:44but also lived in close proximity to shannon
24:48a large amount
25:07one of the tasks is to obtain a full and detailed family tree unfortunately in shannon's case it wasn't a
25:15family tree so it's a family forest
25:18the branches of that family tree continued almost forever
25:24the branches of that family tree continued almost forever
25:28Karen Matthews is from a very big extended family
25:32she was one of seven children
25:35she herself had seven children to five different fathers
25:41and so it was quite a complicated picture
25:47identifying all the people within that family circle
25:52to identify and go and speak to her was a task in itself
26:00we looked at close family friends and members and relatives of shannon matthews that needed to be interviewed and eliminated
26:19some of those were family members not all of them
26:25some of those were sex offenders but not all of them
26:39shannon's real dad was a fellow called leon rose
26:46he was in his late twenties early thirties from a working class background in yorkshire
26:54he lived in a community a few miles down the road a semi-rural town
27:09he never wanted to chat too much
27:14never gave that many interviews
27:17for the sake of the tape machines just your name please
27:21yeah it's leon rose
27:22i've been looking out every day basically
27:25out driving about handing out leaflets
27:29just asking about if anyone's seen out
27:32you know what i mean
27:33any littlest detail could mean a great thing
27:37a great big deal
27:40shannon's father leon rose was interviewed
27:43he did have access to shannon
27:45and he'd seen her quite a lot
27:48but i know that those visits had died off
27:51as i think there was issues still between him and canon
27:54do you have a theory an idea of what's happened
27:58a moment i've no idea
28:00all i know is she's she went to go home from school then
28:05but she didn't go on
28:08that's basically all i know
28:10in that sense i don't know where she's gone what she was thinking
28:14you know what i mean
28:14i don't know
28:16i don't know
28:17she had written on her wall apparently that she
28:19she was talking about coming to wanting to live with you or come back
28:22yeah that's what i'd urge you
28:24um
28:25is it if that's what she's done but she's run away she's scared or
28:28i mean is there a message there
28:30well basically it's like she's watching this like you know
28:33um
28:35go home we'll sort something out you know what i mean
28:37i would like to see her again
28:41and the longer this goes on
28:42the more worried everybody must be
28:44but
28:46in some way
28:47it's been to a week now and tomorrow
28:49you know what i mean
28:50she's nine-year-old and she's out it well she's still out there nine-year-old you know what i
28:55mean
28:55it's going to be hard for any nine-year-old
28:57no
29:03no
29:09no
29:10no
29:10no
29:41There was a note scribbled on Shannon's bedroom wall saying that she wanted to live with her dad.
29:49That gave us some concern.
29:52It almost pointed to the fact that there were issues within the fanware,
29:57which was at odds with what Cannon was telling us about things being perfect.
30:16Craig Meehan was high on the suspects list early on because of his involvement with the family.
30:26Craig Meehan was 22 years old.
30:29He was interested in computers.
30:32He was interested in football.
30:36Altogether, he came across as quite an awkward figure.
30:44Are you still hopeful?
30:46Yeah.
30:47He worked as a fishmonger in a local supermarket and didn't seem the brightest.
30:57When we first saw them together, they caught a pretty unlikely-looking couple.
31:02And what about what the community is doing here?
31:07They're really brilliant.
31:09They're non-stopping, every day, out searching leaflets and everything like that.
31:21Craig Meehan just seemed weird.
31:25There was just something about him.
31:30He positioned himself in front without saying anything.
31:35You would ask him to do an interview and he'd go, no, but yet he was there, wearing the T
31:40-shirt.
31:45I just thought, have you got something to do with it?
32:02Karen's mother and father gave an interview with one of the Weekend tabloids,
32:08accusing Craig of sometimes being violent towards their daughter.
32:26Let me ask you directly, have you ever hurt a child?
32:30Would you ever consider her to show her?
32:33Were you ever cruel to her?
32:35No.
32:36There's even a lot of people that could back that up.
32:40There's a lot of my friends and family around here.
32:43So they even trust me with their kids.
32:45I look after my babysitter with play, don't we?
32:49Same with my ****.
32:53I would never hurt anyone, basically.
33:20The night that we did the walk, Karen wasn't going to come down.
33:26She just said she just didn't want to.
33:28She didn't give a reason.
33:31I just told her to come down and the community were there for her and her daughter.
33:36And I think it would be nice if you showed your face.
33:39So you can see what support is actually out there for you.
33:46Once you were talked into coming down, everything were all right.
33:51I mean, obviously, the press were all on her as soon as they clocked her.
33:56But we hid her in the middle of everybody, so the press couldn't get to her.
34:01She was certainly being protected well by friends who really cared about her,
34:06who were saying, you know, she'll come out, but she's going to lead the march.
34:10We didn't want to do any interviews.
34:32The time, 27 minutes to eight.
34:33The search for nine-year-old Shannon Matthews is now one of the biggest of its kind
34:39ever undertaken by West Yorkshire police.
34:41Well, yesterday I talked to both Shannon's mum and Craig Meehan.
34:45There's been a lot of coverage of not least your family,
34:50your parents and your brother,
34:53talking about how Shannon had a difficult,
34:57and your other children had a difficult relationship with Craig.
35:02No, that's untrue.
35:03By quoting your parents, we've never seen him, Craig,
35:07beat Shannon with our own eyes, but the kids have said it's happened.
35:10They've suggested that Craig was hitting Shannon.
35:13No, look, he hasn't never, ever touched her, never.
35:18It was a tough interview from Radio 4,
35:21and at that point, Karen and Craig,
35:23they'd been involved in a few national media interviews.
35:28Craig, Karen's parents say
35:30that they've been trying to persuade Karen to leave you
35:34because they say that ever since you've been around the last four years
35:37that the children have been unhappy.
35:39They say there's been a whole series of family bust-ups.
35:42And people are going to wonder if there's a very deliberate reason
35:45why they are coming out and saying this so deliberately
35:48three weeks after Shannon disappeared.
35:51Well, basically, that's all lies.
35:53So when people said that you had a difficult relationship with Shannon,
35:56how was it?
35:58Did you ever lay a finger on her?
36:01No.
36:02I haven't done, never will.
36:10When I heard that interview,
36:12I thought this is all getting a bit suspicious.
36:15Something's not right, is it?
36:18You just think something's going on in those four walls,
36:21it's not right.
36:41When I went to work on the Marside Estate,
36:43I introduced myself to Karen.
36:46But she didn't speak to me because she classed me as a graster
36:51and a lot of people don't like grasters.
36:58I knew I'd have to keep a close eye on her
37:00because she did have a few problems, did Karen.
37:05She was very impressionable and very susceptible
37:08to people who started being nice to her
37:11because she thought they wanted to be her friends.
37:18My biggest concern about Karen's house was it
37:21it was like the estate party house.
37:28There were loads of people in and out of her house all the time
37:31and then there were kids in it.
37:37So, yeah, it was one of the party houses on the estate.
37:43The biggest one.
37:47But that still went on.
37:50Nothing changed.
37:51If my child had gone missing,
37:53I wouldn't have people...
37:54Only people around the house would be the people who was helping me.
37:57I wouldn't have a lot of people in the house,
37:58I wouldn't be drinking and carrying on.
38:00And that's what made me realise it.
38:04Well, there's something not right.
38:14A really different Karen appeared.
38:18Sorry.
38:19She'd had time to collect and compose herself.
38:24There were some black rings round her eyes, signs of tiredness,
38:28although the red rings from the crying had gone.
38:34She spoke very carefully, very deliberately.
38:40Well, it probably can't sum up how difficult this has been.
38:44But it has been so long now.
38:45I mean, what is your daily routine at the moment
38:48when, you know, you wake up first thing in the morning,
38:52if you do manage to sleep?
38:54Well, it's hard to sleep, really.
38:56It's just...
38:58I also don't feel the same without them not being there, really.
39:03It just...
39:04It just feels empty.
39:13Well, I think that somebody out there will know Shannon,
39:18because she's supposed to probably know me as well.
39:22And it's just...
39:23I just want to know I'm safe, really.
39:26Does it make...
39:27I mean, if it was somebody that knew her
39:29and somebody that might know you,
39:31does that, in a terrible way,
39:33make you suspicious of people that are close to you?
39:37It makes me think now,
39:39I can't trust people who's really close to me anymore.
39:42I just can't trust them.
39:45Those words were weird.
39:48Those words seemed to point to somebody near her.
39:51Who was she referring to?
39:57Was it a slip?
39:58Was she saying what she thought the police might want her to say?
40:04Or was she just saying the first thing that came into her head?
40:08No, I can't trust people who's really close to me anymore.
40:11I just can't trust them.
40:15It just seemed odd that she was making that statement.
40:19Suddenly, it felt as though something was beginning to unfold.
40:24It suggested that she may have been holding things back
40:27and that she did know more than she was letting on.
40:36I says to my husband, I says,
40:38there's something not right about that.
40:43There's something funny about it.
40:49I can't trust people who's really close to me anymore.
40:52I just can't trust them.
40:56I just want to trust them.
40:57I can't trust them.
40:58I can't trust them.
41:08I can't trust them.
41:11I don't trust them.
41:23Craig led the way up the stairs.
41:26I remember different pairs of shoes lined up on the steps
41:29as we walked up the slightly threadbare carpet.
41:34Karen was with us, but only very briefly,
41:36and she said, I can't be in here, and very quickly left.
41:41We got to the door of the room that Shannon shared
41:45with one of her siblings, and I'll never forget,
41:48on the door of the room, scrawled on there,
41:51in clearly a child's hand, it said,
41:53Shannon, on the name of sibling room, keep out.
42:00We go inside.
42:01The interview went on with Craig in the bedroom.
42:03But then, for whatever reason, Karen returned.
42:09And she came in so quietly,
42:11I didn't notice that she was there at first.
42:14And it wasn't until I asked her about the relationship
42:19between herself and Craig at that time
42:22that there was the first show of emotion from either of them.
42:29Karen said to Craig, he's my rock.
42:33And it was Craig that filled up with tears.
42:37And Karen said, don't you start now, Craig.
42:42Craig just about held it together, and two of them hugged.
42:48What struck me afterwards was that it was Craig
42:53who had been the one that was going to show the tears,
42:56and not Karen.
43:07We had a meeting, and we just said, right, what else can we do?
43:10So that's when we brought out the posters.
43:13We were a company that donated a photocopier.
43:17We went to Leeds United, handed out leaflets there.
43:20Did us feel town, Leeds town centre.
43:22We just covered every area we could think of.
43:26We did it back to T-shirts.
43:28Everybody were putting the right and sole into it.
43:31It was inspirational.
43:33It was incredible.
43:38They never slept.
43:40This extraordinary community response
43:45to try and find this little girl.
43:57Spirit.
44:01And if we care.
44:01We finally hatte aÙ‹ on that phone.
44:14We never slept before,
44:14and cried at that phone at that phone.
44:14I'm not sure.
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