The mother of Shannon Matthews, the missing nine-year-old girl, insisted yesterday that her boyfriend had nothing to do with her disappearance.

Karen Matthews, 32, said that Craig Meehan, 22, “would not hurt anybody”. Shannon failed to return home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, more than two weeks ago. She was last seen at 3.10pm outside Westmoor Junior School. Detectives believe that she might have set off towards the home of her natural father, Leon Rose, 29, ten miles away in Kirkburton.

Ms Matthews chose an interview on GMTV to confront those making accusations against Mr Meehan, her partner for the past four years, whom she called her “rock”. She said: “I know it has nothing to do with him. He would not hurt anybody. It is very hurtful to think people think he would do something like this, because he would not.”

She said that he had been a comfort to her since Shannon had gone missing. “I cry, he cuddles me,” she said.

“When he cries, I cuddle him. We try to just comfort each other.”

Mr Meehan said that he had taken no notice of the fingers being pointed at him. He added that the police activity surrounding the family was routine in such cases. “They do it to every family this happens to,” he said.

He added that he treated Shannon as his own daughter and that he had always got on “brilliantly” with her.

Detectives are hoping that the release of Ms Matthews’s 999 call to the emergency services will maintain the level of public interest in Shannon’s disappearance and trigger a breakthrough.

Police are digging through undergrowth and rubble on wasteland close to Crow’s Nest Park, in Dewsbury.

Officers continued house-to-house inquiries on the Dewbury Moor estate where Ms Matthews, a mother of seven, lives. The family have received messages of support from around Britain, including the family of Madeleine McCann. Mr Meehan said: “They know what we are going through.”

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