When Shannon Matthews went missing, the nation's hearts broke for her devastated mother Karen. The community where they lived in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, banded together as a mammoth search began for the missing nine-year-old schoolgirl in February 2008.
It was West Yorkshire Police's biggest operation since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, abandoning murder inquiries to join the team while stricken friends and neighbours feared the worst.
Matthews played the role of the tearful mother, pleading for the return of her daughter in front of television cameras. But one of Matthews' closest friends realised something was amiss from the day that Shannon was reported missing.
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