The father of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews, missing in West Yorkshire since Tuesday, said this morning that his daughter had spoken of wanting to come and live with him before her disappearance.

Leon Rose claimed that Shannon had written on her bedroom wall that she wanted to move in with her dad, and suggested her feelings might have caused her to run away.

His comments came as the police released CCTV footage of the missing youngster shortly before her disappearance three days ago. The footage, which shows Shannon entering and leaving the Dewsbury Sports Centre Swimming Pool during a school trip that afternoon, was released at a news conference at Dewsbury Police Station.

There have been no confirmed sightings of Shannon since she left her school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on Tuesday afternoon after returning from the trip. Nor have any pieces of clothing or other items belonging to Shannon been recovered.

A police operation involving 250 officers and frantic round-the-clock searches by relatives and neighbours have failed to uncover any sign of the girl, described as “timid” by her family. However, detectives are investigating a sighting close to her home on Wednesday morning described as “significant.”

Mr Rose, who split from Shannon’s mother Karen some years ago and now lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was asked if his daughter had been having any problems during an interview with BBC Radio Five Live.

He replied: “No, but I’d spoken with Karen on Wednesday and she said that she’d been talking about missing me and she’d wrote (sic) on her bedroom wall that she wanted to live with her dad.

“I would have thought that might have been something to do with why she was going off.”

Mr Rose explained that although he usually spent time with Shannon every week, he had not seen her since last summer because of “problems with the family” and other issues.

Asked whether she could have run away to try to get to him, he said: “It’s obvious to think that but we don’t know. She’s said that she was missing us and all that and she knows where we live, but she doesn’t know how to get here.”

Friends of Shannon have told police that she was talking about not returning home shortly before her disappearance, while reports have also suggested she may have had an argument with her family.

Speaking from the house of a friend – where she is staying while police carry out investigations at her own home – Mrs Matthews explained how she had found the message written in felt-tip pen on Shannon’s bedroom wall after she disappeared. She confirmed Shannon had written that she missed her father and wanted to live with him.

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