Stepfather of British girl kidnap victim arrested for child porn

Apr 2, 2008, 14:54 GMT

London- Police investigating the disappearance of Shannon Matthews, a British schoolgirl who went missing for 24 days and was found alive on March 14, have arrested her stepfather on suspicion of possessing pornographic images of children.

Craig Meehan, 22, was arrested after officers on the Shannon Matthews case carried out inspections on a number of computers.

Meehan was arrested at the family home in Dewsbury, in the northern county of Yorkshire, according to the reports. Michael Donovan, 39, also of Dewsbury, has already been charged with kidnapping Shannon.

West Yorkshire Police said in a statement: 'During inquiries by the Shannon Matthews investigation team, the contents of a number of computers have been examined.

'As a result of this work, police have arrested a 22-year-old man from the Dewsbury Moor area on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

'He is currently being questioned at a West Yorkshire Police Station.'

Meehan, a fishmonger, has lived with Karen Matthews, a mother-of- seven, for five years, the BBC reported.

The alarm was raised on Februay 19 when the schoolgirl failed to return home from a school swimming lesson.

The nine-year-old was eventually found hidden in the base of a bed at a house a mile from her family home in Dewsbury, on March 14, 24 days after she went missing.

But she has not returned home since she was found and is in the care of social services.

Her disappearance led to the launch of one of the biggest police inquiries in Yorkshire since the Ripper investigation of the 1970s, according to the BBC reports.