Two family members held in Shannon probe

Police investigating the kidnapping of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews in Yorkshire arrested two members of her stepfather's family on Friday.

Nine-year-old Shannon's disappearance in February sparked a huge search before she was found safe and well last month.

Media reports identified the pair as Amanda Hyett, 25, and Alice Meehan, 49, the sister and mother of Shannon's stepfather Craig Meehan.

West Yorkshire police said they had arrested two women in Dewsbury on Friday morning.

"A 25-year old has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and a 49-year old on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice," it said in a statement.

Both were being questioned at West Yorkshire police stations.

On Thursday, Craig Meehan, 22, was remanded in custody on charges of possessing indecent images of children.

He has lived with Shannon's 32-year-old mother Karen for around five years.

Shannon was found hidden in the base of a bed at a house a mile from her family home in Dewsbury last month, 24 days after she went missing following a school swimming trip.

Her disappearance prompted one of the biggest police inquiries in the area since the Yorkshire Ripper investigation of the late 1970s.

Police have charged Meehan's uncle, 39-year-old Michael Donovan, with Shannon's abduction and imprisonment.

The girl has not returned home since her rescue and remains in the care of social services.