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ITN
Friend's tears over missing Shannon
Friend's tears over missing Shannon
The best friend of missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has made a tearful televised plea for the nine-year-old's safe return.Megan Aldridge, also nine, walked home with Shannon on the afternoon of February 19 and saw her friend head off in the wrong direction to her home in Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor, saying: "She were walking downwards, not up."Megan said: "I'm really, really sad, and if you know where she is just call and tell us where she is."The youngster said her normally chatty friend was unusually quiet before she disappeared. She appealed on TV to her friend to "please come home"."Everybody were chatting and Shannon were really, really quiet," she said, adding that she did not know why her behaviour was different.Shannon's family have said they do not believe the timid West Yorkshire youngster ran away.In her local paper, the Yorkshire Evening Post, Megan also made an appeal, saying: "If anyone knows where Shannon is they should tell someone. We have all been really upset since she went away."A £20,000 reward has been offered by The Sun newspaper, which has also printed posters urging its readers to help in the search.Shannon's mother and stepfather told the Sun: "Our message to people is never give up...because we won't until we find her."Megan's dad Mark said the two girls played together at Westmoor Primary School where Shannon was last positively sighted. He said his daughter has been badly affected by her friend's disappearance as Megan found it hard to make friends and her only other pal had moved abroad.Earlier this week, detectives conceded that Shannon "may have fallen into the wrong hands".Search teams have continued their work in various parts of the Dewsbury Moor area with some houses on the estate where Shannon lived still guarded by officers.Senior detectives have confirmed that the inquiry is very similar in structure to a murder investigation and said search dogs are just one part of a wide-ranging inquiry that included mounted police patrols, search and rescue teams, mountain rescue teams and helicopters.A team of "dedicated scientists" have been on hand for detailed forensic examinations.Earlier this week, Shannon's mother, Karen Matthews, and stepfather, Craig Meehan, joined around 300 members of the community to march through the streets near their home.The group carried flowers and a large banner asking for help to find Shannon as they walked from the local community centre in Dewsbury Moor to the house on Moorside Road.© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.
ITN | February 29, 2008
