Search for Shannon continues

12 April 2012

Police hunting for missing nine-year-old Shannon Matthews said that "significant" searches continue into her whereabouts and renewed their appeal for information.

The operation remains focused on the areas where the schoolgirl was last seen, police said.

Shannon, from Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, failed to return home from school after a swimming trip on Tuesday afternoon.

A spokeswoman from West Yorkshire Police said: "Significant searches are continuing around the area where she was last seen.

"We are continuing to follow up information from members of the public including the recovery of CCTV and the house-to-house inquiries are also continuing."

She appealed for anyone with information to contact the police.

More than 300 calls from members of the public have already been received and officers have searched over 200 homes within a half mile radius of Moorside Road.

Leaflets appealing for information about Shannon's whereabouts have also been distributed around the area.

The police operation, which has involved 250 officers and desperate day-and-night searches by friends and relatives, has so far failed to find a trace of Shannon.

Chief Superintendent Barry South, a senior officer in the inquiry, said that police remained "gravely concerned" about Shannon's welfare. "Anyone at this stage would be concerned," he added.

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