Shannon Matthews trial Day 10: Shannon accused charged with kidnap before

Nov 25 2008 By Andrew Jackson

He replied: "I really wanted to do something at the time but I was really scared and nervous about going anywhere and telling anyone."

He said he did not intend to mislead the police during the full-scale hunt for Shannon.

Donovan said he was giving a drink to the youngster when he saw police officers approach his property on March 14.

"I told Shannon ’The police are here’. She said ’Oh no, I don’t want the police’."

He said he started to panic and both of them ran off separately towards the back bedroom where Shannon had been sleeping.

He heard a massive bang as the police burst into the property.

Donovan said he was lying on his stomach on the bedroom floor when the officers came upstairs.

He said two or three of them piled on top of him and said something went into his thigh.

Shannon said "Leave us alone" as he was pinned to the floor, Donovan told the court.

He said the officers said ’Now we have got you’ and called him a bastard.

"I tried to explain my medical problems," he told the jury.

He said he thought he heard Shannon’s voice coming from underneath the bed and said she was taken away by officers.

"After that they got me up roughly and started knocking me around. I couldn’t stand up," he said.

He said he was "dragged" away and his head started banging against a wall.

As he was being taken away, he heard someone say "Stop being cruel to him", he told the court.

He said he was "shoved" into a police van and he told police to "Get Karen down here".

"I said it once in the police van and once at the police station," he told the jury.

At the police station, he said, his head was "spinning" and officers were putting words into his mouth.

He went on to tell the court that he was beaten up by a man called "Scully" while on remand in prison.

He said the attack resulted in him having surgery on a broken jaw which required plates to be inserted.