Shannon's stepdad remanded on porn charges

LONDON (Reuters) - The boyfriend of Shannon Matthews' mother appeared in court on Friday charged with possessing child pornography.

Craig Meehan, 22, was remanded in custody until April 18 by Dewsbury magistrates.

The supermarket fishmonger faces 11 specimen charges relating to the possession of indecent images of children.

A number of his family have been arrested in connection with nine-year-old Shannon's disappearance. She went missing after a school swimming trip in February, sparking a massive hunt.

She was found 24 days later in the base of a bed about a mile away from her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

The girl's mother, Karen, 32, appeared before Dewsbury magistrates on Wednesday charged with perverting the course of justice and child neglect. She is due to appear via videolink at Leeds Crown Court on April 16.

Michael Donovan, the 39-year-old uncle of Meehan, has been charged with abduction and imprisonment in the case.

Detectives bailed three women aged 25, 29 and 49, on Thursday on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

Two of the women had been arrested before.

(Reporting by Avril Ormsby and Peter Griffiths)