Shannon on road to recovery after four weeks in captivity

London: Detectives were on Saturday trying to find out what happened to Shannon Matthews between her disappearance from the gates of her school in Dewsbury and her dramatic rescue four weeks later.

The nine-year-old was discovered in the base of a bed at a flat in the area after police smashed their way in on Friday.

Police said the schoolgirl had spent a "comfortable and settled night and is starting on the road to recovery following her ordeal". She spent the night watching DVDs and has been playing with a kitten.

Matthews had been missing for nearly four weeks, sparking a massive police search which involved about 10 per cent of the West Yorkshire police force.

Detectives said they will begin to talk to Matthews, who is the subject of an emergency police protection order, following medical checks.

"The interviews may be a long process but throughout this enquiry our main focus has been and continues to be Shannon's welfare," police said.

The order will remain in place until police have "had time to establish the full facts of what happened in the time since her disappearance".

Matthews was found after detectives broke down the door of the house a mile (1.6km) from her family home in Dewsbury.

At around 1pm on Friday a police team broke into the flat where they found Shannon hidden in a drawer space under a divan bed. Her suspected abductor was allegedly in the other half of the bed's base and was led away in handcuffs.

Neighbours said the girl appeared "quite calm" when she emerged from the house in Batley Carr.

A 39-year-old man, named locally as Paul Drake, an uncle of Shannon's stepfather Craig Meehan, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of abduction.

Her father, Leon Rose, told Sky News that finding her was "like winning the lottery". Shannon's mother, Karen, 32, was said to be "in shock" after being allowed to spend time with her daughter at a police station.

Locals were on Friday pictured ripping up "Missing Shannon" posters and throwing them in the air like confetti in celebration of her safe return.

Matthews had gone missing on February 19 after a swimming trip, prompting one of the biggest investigations in the area since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry of the late 1970s.

Police may now face questions over why it took so long to search the house of a close relative who lived just a mile away from the girl's home.