ONE big question remained to be answered today in the inquiry into the abduction of Shannon Matthews.
Mum Karen Matthews continued to be questioned by police after spending the night in custody.
Now police want to find out if she knew all along where Shannon was during the hunt.
Mrs Matthews, 32, was arrested in Dewsbury on Sunday night on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
Police sources said detectives had been granted an extension to allow further questioning.
According to reports, Mrs Matthews was arrested after she told a police family liaison officer she had known where Shannon was all along.
The youngster was found hiding in a divan bed at a house in Batley Carr – a mile from the Matthews’ home.
It was also reported today that police investigating Shannon’s disappearance have asked for a tape of an episode of the Channel 4 show Shameless which featured a fake kidnap plot.
In the episode which was shown around a month before Mrs Matthews reported her daughter missing, teenager Debbie Gallagher hides her younger brother Liam at a friend’s house and pretends he has been kidnapped. She then demands a £500,000 ransom from her father, Frank, who is thought to have won the same sum on the Lottery.
Mrs Matthews is the fourth family member to be arrested in connection with the nine-year-old’s disappearance on February 19.
A fifth person, Mrs Matthews’ boyfriend Craig Meehan, has been charged with possessing child porn and has been remanded in custody.
Shannon was discovered in the base of a bed at an address just one mile from her home after a 24-day police search.
Donovan, formerly known as Paul Drake, of Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, was arrested on March 14 after Shannon was found in the bed at his flat.
The 39-year-old is the uncle of Shannon’s stepfather, Craig Meehan, 22.
Meehan’s sister, Amanda Hyett, 25, who lives next door to Shannon’s mother in Moorside Road, and his mother, Alice Meehan, 49, were both arrested in connection with the alleged abduction.
The women were arrested on Thursday, the 25-year-old on suspicion of assisting an offender, and the 49-year-old on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Both have been bailed.
It was revealed on Sunday that Donovan slit his wrists while on remand at Leeds Prison.
The incident happened on Saturday night and he was taken to hospital before being returned to prison.
While police searched for Shannon, someone claiming to be her aunt asked for money from the fund set up to help find missing Madeleine McCann.
The McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “She didn’t seem to understand why we couldn’t just send a large wad of cash. I must admit I found it a bit odd.
“The fund directors considered helping the search as a gesture of goodwill. But I was concerned about the haphazard method of approach and suggested we didn’t get involved.”
Karen Matthews was at the forefront of public appeals to find her daughter.
It was she who called the police after her child failed to return home from a school swimming trip.
In the 999 call reporting Shannon’s disappearance a tearful Mrs Matthews told the operator she had been “everywhere I can think of, friends-wise, family and everything”.
As the days went on she did numerous television and media interviews, clutching the child’s “love teddy” and appealing for her “princess” to return.
Mrs Matthews, 32, who has seven children by five fathers, lived in a Kirklees Council house on Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor, with partner Craig Meehan for about five years.
Shannon’s father, Leon Rose, 29, lives in Kirkburton.
