Missing nine-year-old schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been found alive 24 days after she went missing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
She was found around 2pm today in a property in Batley Carr, about a mile from her family home.
West Yorkshire Police confirmed the girl had been found concealed in the base of a divan bed in a house in Lidgate Gardens.
A 39-year-old man - reportedly a relation of Shannon's step-father - has been arrested on suspicion of abduction.
Reports suggest his own children had been taken away from him, and he lived in the flat on his own
"We haven't seen him for two or three years. But apparently he's come back," a neighbour said. The woman who lives downstairs from him tipped off police after hearing footsteps, she added.
Police reportedly smashed their way into the flat and emerged carrying Shannon, who was last seen leaving Westmoor Junior School in Dewsbury on 19 February.
Shannon was said to have looked "quite calm" and officers confirmed that she was OK.
"One of my neighbours heard banging. When he went outside, police were breaking the door down - the man wouldn't come out so they broke in," a local resident said. "Apparently they found her in bed."
Shannon's aunt, Amanda Hyett, described the news as "wonderful".
"I can't believe it - what an incredible relief," she told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
It is understood Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, was with reporters from national newspapers when she heard the news.
She was then driven away by police from the family home and is believed to have been reunited with her daughter.
Earlier this week, Mrs Matthews, 32, said she thought someone she knew had snatched her daughter to hurt her.
But Mrs Matthews said she did not know who could have taken the shy youngster.
Mrs Matthews said: "She got abducted. That's all I can say."
Asked if she thought it was someone she knew who took her, she said: "It seems that way because there's no trace of her at all. There's no trace of her swimming costume, her towel or anything like that that she's taken with her." And asked why someone close to her would do it, Mrs Matthews replied: "Just to hurt me, really."
Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann, said they were "delighted" that Shannon had been found, and the news gave them hope.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCann's spokesman, said: "Kate and Gerry are aware that she has been found alive. They feel that is excellent news. It proves that children can go missing for whatever reason and still be found alive,"
The operation to find Shannon was the biggest missing person's case the West Yorkshire force had undertaken since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.
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Fantastic news in this case, great to finally hear one of these stories have a happy ending.
