UK: Missing girl 'crying' on day of disappearance

Police in the UK searching for missing Shannon Matthews today said a report she was spotted “crying her eyes out” on the day she vanished is one of a number of possible sightings they are investigating.

Two boys claim to have seen the shy nine-year-old schoolgirl sitting on a wall about half-a-mile from her home in West Yorkshire in the UK.

They said she looked upset and was not wearing her coat.

One of the boys, a 12-year-old, told the Daily Mirror: “It was at the top of School Lane and she was crying her eyes out. There were tears running down her face.

“I didn’t say anything to her. She had no coat on. But her plastic bag was full, so it was probably in there.”

The possible sighting was at 3.20pm – about 10 minutes after the last confirmed time Shannon was spotted by a teacher at her school.

The youngster had just returned from a swimming trip on the afternoon of February 19 when she was last seen at the school gates.

Today, a police spokeswoman said officers were aware of the reported sighting of Shannon by the two boys.

She said: “We do know of the sightings, it is one of the numerous sightings in and around the area at that time.

“Many of the children in the area have given us possible sightings.”

Her mother Karen Matthews, 32, said she is convinced the little girl is still alive and is “hoping and praying” that she will walk through the door of their home.

Speaking of the reported sighting, Mrs Matthews told the Mirror that she was mystified as Shannon was “perfectly normal” on the day she disappeared.

Reports of this new sighting came as detectives released a new photograph of Shannon taken at her school – Westmoor Junior School – in September last year.

Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan urged local people to try to remember what they were doing on the afternoon of February 19, if they were in the Dewsbury Moor area.

He went on: “Can you cast your mind back to the days that followed the news of Shannon’s disappearance.

“Do you have a family member, partner, close associate or neighbour who appears to have been behaving out of the ordinary or who you now think was acting unusually in any way at all?”

Shannon’s best friend Megan Aldridge today described how she had been usually quiet on the bus back from swimming and another girl had been bullying her.

Megan added that she had told police of a “fox hole” that Shannon used to visit.

A police spokeswoman said: “Officers have interviewed Megan at depth. A number of accounts have been acted upon.”