Shannon Matthews

[NAB3wishesfor2008]

It has just been announced the police are going to search 2000 homes in Dewsbury. While I am obviously pleased they are working so hard, it did cross my mind that if someone has taken Shannon the police have just given them warning about what is going to happen.

but when madeleine mccann disappeared there were find madeleine pictures everywhere, in shops, they went round via email, god knows why as the reality is she was never likely to be seen in the UK. But with Shannon there's been none of that. And surely if the thought is that she might have run away, there's more chance of her being spotted from a poster than Madeleine who was probably killed on the night she disappeared.

Am by no means implying that the family is involved, I just found it telling that her mum said she thought someone that knew shannon knew where she was. obviously that someone could be a friend, anyone, but what she says went against what most families of missing children say, that a stranger would have been involved. I just thought maybe the parents have had reason to fear something might happen to shannon.

wannabe, thankyou!!!! That is my point: there are not half as many national piccies out in circulation as shannon: and if, god forbid, she's been abducted, surely the abductor would try to remove the child rom the local area where less people would know her hence the need to have national regular circulation of pics of shannon? It si just crap when missing childrens cases 'fade' from national news ubless there is a big breaking news to report, surely while they're missing they should remain national news until found?

wannabe, thankyou!!!! That is my point: there are not half as many national piccies out in circulation as shannon: and if, god forbid, she's been abducted, surely the abductor would try to remove the child rom the local area where less people would know her hence the need to have national regular circulation of pics of shannon? It si just crap when missing childrens cases 'fade' from national news ubless there is a big breaking news to report, surely while they're missing they should remain national news until found?

Sorry, of shannon as madeleine, i meant.

And appreciate there may be pics on internet, but newspapers should keep printing them so pics are theer on the street in peoples faces

the problem though with having children national news until they're found is that at some point a line does have to be drawn. There are children who went missing 20, 30 years ago who have never been found, what would be the point of still mentioning the fact they are missing? they will have changed beyond recognission by now if they're even still alive.

Plus if there's no news what do you report? "there's still no sign of Madeleine mccann who disappeared last year"? But fact is if she'd been found that would have been reported on the news by now. And reality is that most people are sick of hearing about Madeleine Mccann, not because of Madeleine Mccann but because of everything else that surrounded her disappearance. We had to hear about her parents' trip to see the pope/about their blog/their fun/when they came back to the uk/when they had family visiting... and the list goes on. And the reality is that we really don't need, or really want, to know all that. And the more it is reported, the less people want to hear it, so it's all about striking a balance really.

The mccanns got it wrong, totally wrong, and went completely too far in their coverage, but the shannon case is a bit too suttle, there needs to be some middle ground IMO. although what that is I'm not totally sure.

Exactly, i mean, in maerica they have the milk cartons with kids faces on, but how long before people become immune to what's on their groceries. Wouldn't major supermarkers be able to keep diplaying larges puictures of missing children, pics on buses etc? I know it sounds daft but something to keep the children fresh in the minds of the public who could spot them. I know it seems like daft suggestions but if children are missing and need to be found would people object to such a scheme if it was thought to help?

Upwind I bet that is what Shannon's parents
and all the other parents of missing children thought.

wannabe I agree that the national news should be showing her photograph more in case she has been abducted out of the area, I live in Yorkshire and her local news has a daily update, but this is of little use if she is out of the region.
Hoping and hoping they find her safe soon.

Police released a new pic of her yestersay that had been taken in September. IMO she looked a lot different.

This is the new picture

Her dad is in this piece too. She looks just like him.

I wish they would find her.

the step dad sounds like a charmer

Sounds like a lot of problems in the family. How tragic if she actually was running away and something horrible has happened to her.

The birth dad says the stepdad is OK

But would he know? He hadn't seen her for a couple of years, had he?

She was a very unhappy little girl before she disappeared, whatever

God this is such a sad story, it breaks my heart to think that poor Shannon may not have wanted to go home because she was scared & then someone might have abducted her, this is a truly awful situation