As I’m sure we all know 9 year old Shannon Matthews from West Yorkshire has been found in the draw of a divan bed a mile from her home in a flat in Batley Carr; 23 days after she went missing! Millions of people across the country feared that she like so many in that situation would never be found alive again, however surprisingly she was found when someone from the public phoned The Missing Persons hot-line to say that they knew where the missing child was. Hours after this telephone call police raided the flat of Michael Donovan 39, in Lidgate Gardens.
Michael Donovan who had changed his name from Paul Drake is the uncle to Shannon’s step father and it has come about that Donovan had been stalking Shannon for many months. She is said to be in safe and caring hands with child services until the police think its safe she is returned to her family home.
However many questions are raised when issues and situations like this occur. One might be how a extended family member was allowed to do this to a young child, another could be the effect and mental trauma it has had of parents of missing Madeline Mccan in Praia da Luz on May 3rd 2007. British police have been working 24/7 to try and locate the now found Shannon Matthews, they searched over 3,000 properties and interviewed more than 6,000 peoples in there 23 day battle. Many questions surround the police in Portugal and their lack of enthusiasm to help and find Madeline but without success.
Could it be that if she had gone missing in England she could of been found alive or even her body found at last? That is the opinion of many including myself that she would of been found by British police if she went missing in her home country.
Michael Donovan has been arrested tonight for kidnap and false imprisonment of Shannon Matthews, he will be appearing in front of Dewsbury Magistrates Court on Tuesday 18th March 2008.
What has my mind puzzling is the reports that have surfaced since Shannon ran away, these reports have been that she wanted to run away initially because she wanted to live with her father could this be why she was kidnapped? Its really tough to say when you look at cases like this and it comes only down to peoples opinion and gossip mongering, but why would a extended family member kidnap Shannon? Why did the family not see this man stalking her? The most puzzling question of all is this…. with all the spats of killings, missing children and the nutters that we have living in our society undetected today; why would any mother of a 9 year old child let her walk to and from school which is a mile away? Its just like the question put to the Mccann family… “why leave your daughter by herself?” Its not for me to judge im just a journalist but is this responsible parenting?
If you think about the situation more ‘outside the box’ Fathers for Justice have more ammunition to use in the fight to see their children, Shannon who was not seeing her biological father was considering running away from home to see him because she wasnt allowed by normal means! Is this what mothers, fathers and the government want… children going missing because they are not abe to see their real parents because of laws or family arguements causing a rift. ??
