Shannon Matthews timeline

HERE is the amazing timeline of how the Shannon Matthews story unfolded from Day one.

Feb 19-Shannon Matthews was last seen outside the gates of her school after returning from a swimming trip.

Feb 20-Police launch one of the biggest manhunts in Britain which at its height involved 200 police officers and 60 detectives-around 10 percent of West Yorkshire Police's operational strength. Shannon's mother, Karen, 32, makes an impassioned appeal for her return.

Feb 26-Police say they fear the girl may have "fallen into the wrong hands."

March 14-Twenty-four days after she vanished, Shannon is found alive and well, hidden in the base of a divan bed at a house in Batley Carr. Michael Donovan, 39, the uncle of her mother's boyfriend, is charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment.

April 2-Karen's boyfriend, Craig Meehan, 22, a supermarket fishmonger, is charged with possessing child pornography.

April 4-Police arrest Meehan's sister Amanda Hyett, 25, and mother, Alice Meehan, 49. Hyett is held on suspicion of assisting a offender while Meehan is detained on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

April 7-Shannon's mother is arrested and later charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice. She is remanded in custody for her own safety to appear on April 16 via videolink at Leeds Crown Court.

April 9-Police warn neighbours on the estate not to take the law into their own hands.

April 10-Three women aged 25, 29 and 49 are held on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Amanda Hyett, 25, her sister Caroline Meehan, 29, and their mother Alice Meehan, 49, were questioned over the disappearance. They are bailed pending further inquiries.

April 11-Craig Meehan appears in court and is remanded in custody to appear again on April 18.