English schoolgirl found concealed in bed

DEWSBURY, England, March 14 (UPI) -- A 9-year-old English girl, missing for more than three weeks, was found alive Friday concealed in the apartment of a 39-year-old man.

Police raided the apartment after a neighbor reported hearing a child's voice, The Independent reported. They found Shannon Matthews in the drawer under a bed.

Investigators began canvassing the neighborhood two days ago after a woman reported finding a bag with a child's swimsuit inside. Shannon had been to a swimming lesson just before she vanished.

Shannon was less than a mile from the school where she was last seen and close to her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. The man who allegedly had been hiding her, identified by neighbors as Michael Donovan, was reported to be a distant relative of her step-father.

David Hughes, who lives next door, said he saw police dragging Donovan out in handcuffs.

"After that little Shannon came walking out behind him," Hughes said. "She was wearing a blue coat and trousers; it looked like what she had been wearing in the CCTV pictures. She wasn't crying or anything."