Police chief rejects claims of several tip-offs before Shannon’s rescue

TWO police officers who spearheaded the rescue of Shannon Matthews were singled out for praise yesterday.

West Yorkshire chief constable Sir Norman Bettison highlighted the work of detectives Paul Kettlewell and Nick Townsend as he defended the professionalism of his force.

He dismissed those quoted in the press as claiming to have given police vital pieces of the jigsaw days in advance of Shannon’s rescue as “fantasists”.