UK NEWS

SHANNON'S STEPDAD REFUSED BAIL

Craig Meehan was refused bail today

Friday April 11,2008

By Nicola McCafferty for express.co.uk

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THE stepfather of kidnapped schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was remanded in custody today on charges of possessing child pornography.

The partner of Shannon Matthews' mother Karen - who has also been remanded in police custody - was refused bail this afternoon by magistrates in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

He will be held by police until April 18.

The 22-year-old supermarket fishmonger appeared in court this morning accused of 11 specimen offences of possession of indecent images of children.

It is believed that Meehan possessed 140 indecent images of children graded at levels one to four - on a scale where one is the least serious and five is the most serious.

VICTIM: Nine-year-old Shannon Matthews

The sick images were allegedly found on two computers at the family home in Dewsbury where he has lived with Karen Matthews for around five years.

Meehan was arrested on April 2 by officers investigating the disappearance of Shannon.

Earlier today he was driven into the back of Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court in a white prison van.

Schoolgirl Shannon went missing on February 19 and was discovered hidden in the base of a bed in a flat in Batley Carr, just one mile from her home in Dewsbury after a 24-day search by police.

Meehan’s uncle, Michael Donovan, 39, of Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, has been charged with Shannon’s kidnap and imprisonment.

His trial has been provisionally set for November 11 at Leeds Crown Court.

Shannon's mother Karen - who at 32 is ten years older than Meehan - appeared in court on Wednesday charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice.

She was remanded in custody and will next appear at Leeds Crown Court on April 16.

Yesterday, Meehan’s mother Alice, 49, and her daughters Amanda Hyett, 25, and Caroline Meehan, 29, were also arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

All three were later released on bail pending further inquiries.

HILLBILLIES

12.04.08, 1:01pm

They all look like the strange people that starred in the film Deliverance. "Hey boy, squeal like a peeig!" Diddle-ing ding ding ding ding ding, diddle-ing ding ding ding ding ding - etc. etc. etc.

• Posted by: Zeigfreid • Report Comment

SHANNON'S STEPDAD REFUSED BAIL

12.04.08, 8:43am

Even to call him an Animal would be a slur on the Animal World.

Let the real mothers in his locality sort him out. Im sure they would do a much better job than anything offered by this shambolic Government and its Human (Criminal) Rights Act strapped PRISON SERVICE.

• Posted by: EmperorMing • Report Comment