Shannon mother's ex-partner 'had porn references on PC'

A computer belonging to the former partner of Shannon Matthews’s mother contained more than 600 references to “Lolita”, a court heard today.

Detective Constable Andrew James told the trial of Craig Meehan, 22, that the term is one commonly used by people interested in searching for child pornography.

The 653 references to Lolita found on the machine were detailed by police officers in interviews with Meehan which were read at Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court where Meehan is on trial accused of possessing 134 images of child abuse.

In the interview, the detectives asked Meehan if could explain these references, to which he replied “no”, a district judge was told.

Meehan was arrested after detectives seized his computer during the search for nine-year-old Shannon Matthews earlier this year.

At the time, Meehan lived with Shannon’s mother, Karen Matthews, at Moorside Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Today, on the second day of his trial, prosecutor David Holderness read summaries of a series of interviews police conducted with the supermarket fishmonger.

During the interviews Meehan continually denied seeing the indecent images of children before he was shown them by the police, Mr Holderness said.

“He said this was the first time he had seen them,” he said.

Dc James told the court the computer had been bought second-hand from the Brighthouse chain but admitted the firm had only overwritten the operating system and not necessarily erased everything from the hard drive.

The officer said none of the material downloaded appeared to have been accessed using a credit card.

Meehan denies 12 charges of possessing indecent images of children relating to 133 images on his computer and one on his mobile phone.

Dc James said the image found on his phone was part of a batch of hundreds downloaded at the same time from the internet and transferred using a Bluetooth connection to the mobile.

But the officer admitted under cross-examination how, despite them all being pornographic, only one was considered to be indecent in terms of child abuse.

In another interview read to the court, Meehan admitted viewing adult pornography on his computer.

He also admitted having pornographic DVDs in his house. He said he would buy pornography from the local market.

Later a series of Meehan’s friends and neighbours from the Moorside Road area gave evidence with most saying the house was often very busy and a number of people used the two computers in the front room.

Meehan’s sister Caroline told the court how she used her brother’s computer to access her email and an online dating service.

Another sister, his next-door neighbour Amanda Hyett, said there were always “loads” of people at Meehan’s house.

She said one of his cousins was there “from dawn ’till dusk” and would use his computer.

Meehan followed the proceedings from the dock flanked by two security officers.

He sat sporting short hair and glasses and wearing a black Manchester United away shirt.

The trial was later adjourned until tomorrow at 10am.