TWO weeks ago nine-year-old Shannon Matthews vanished on her way home from school. Examiner crime reporter ANDREW HIRST assesses the case so far and why just one snippet of vital information could crack the case.

IT seemed like any other day when nine-year-old Shannon Matthews walked away from school clutching her swimming kit.

To anyone watching nothing was out of the ordinary at 3.10pm on Tuesday, February 19.

But what happened next – possibly within minutes – has put the timid girl at the centre of an extraordinary mystery.

At 6.48pm that evening her worried mum, Karen, called the police.

By 2am the next morning 200 police officers and rescue teams were out searching for her as temperatures plummeted to -6°C.

It was a massive number of searchers, but they found no trace.

Even now, two weeks on, there have been no confirmed sightings of Shannon at all. She has totally vanished.

A major police inquiry has been under way ever since, with 200 uniformed officers and 60 detectives searching for Shannon in the full glare of public view and the national media spotlight.

They have also been carrying out painstaking inquiries behind the scenes.

While everyone still hopes – sometimes against all hope – that Shannon will be found alive the grim realism is that detectives also have to gather vital evidence which could help any further criminal investigation.

They have a full set of her fingerprints and a DNA profile from Shannon, pieced together from personal items, including her schoolbooks and things from her bedroom.

Specialist dogs that can sniff out bodies have been brought into the inquiry and have so far searched 500 homes, most of them on the route Shannon would have walked from Westmoor Junior School to her home on Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor.

So far they have found nothing, but they could end up searching 3,000 homes and all the commercial properties in the area before that operation is finished.

That is the massive scale of the overt search for Shannon.

With more than 300 officers working on it that’s about 10% of West Yorkshire Police’s operational strength.

The detective in charge, Det Supt Andy Brennan, made a commitment to Shannon’s family and the people of Dewsbury Moor when he said yesterday: “These resources will continue until we find Shannon.”

That’s a big commitment.

Behind-the-scenes police research and intelligence has identified known sex offenders and other people whose names have surfaced during the inquiry as being of interest.

Their homes are also being searched and they are being quizzed.

But the police face a tough task in the search for Shannon. They have very little to go on.

They have no real sightings after 3.10pm that afternoon.

If Shannon has been abducted no-one saw it take place. No-one has seen a child being bundled into a car or a house.

The roads are narrow in that area. If a vehicle had stopped and Shannon had been dragged into it surely someone would have seen something or an abductor had been very lucky.

Police still believes the answer lies locally and by that they mean Dewsbury Moor, Heckmondwike and Cleckheaton.

Shannon had been to a school swimming lesson at Dewsbury Sports Centre shortly before she vanished.

One potential new lead revealed at yesterday’s press conference was a description of her swimming costume and towel.

The costume is distinctive, but the police have been unable to put out a photograph of it as it was bought at a market stall in Scarborough by Shannon’s grandma a couple of years ago.

It’s pink with blue fishes on the top. The towel is blue and striped and Shannon was carrying the kit in a plastic bag.

In short, a missing person inquiry is still very much running in the increasingly fading hope that Shannon will be found alive.

If she is it will be miraculous at this stage and no doubt the circumstances would be unique.

But alongside is an investigation collecting evidence which could be useful in any future court case.

When Det Supt Brennan was asked yesterday how confident he was that he would find Shannon alive, he said: “We will continue our work to do that, but clearly we are prepared for any eventuality.

“We will continue to deal with it as a potential missing person inquiry. But simultaneously and realistically we’re also dealing with the fact that this could be something more sinister.

“We are still treating this as a potential missing from home inquiry. But we are also ensuring that the investigation process captures any eventuality.”

And, despite all the publicity surrounding the case and the many appeals made so far, it all goes back to those crucial hours or even minutes straight after Shannon went missing.

And with no confirmed sightings after 3.10pm it seems Shannon vanished very shortly after walking away from school.

Once detectives get the break they need in terms of a good sighting, or some evidence that Shannon has been in someone’s car or house, then all the hard work they have done so far and the evidence they have gathered may well start to fall into place.

Anyone with any information should contact the incident room urgently on 01274 373737.