Police interviewing Shannon Matthews are certain that she was kidnapped and held captive during her 24 missing days.

The nine-year-old’s story, which is slowly unfolding over several days of specialist questioning, has satisfied detectives that they are dealing with a genuine case of abduction.

A source close to the inquiry last night dismissed rumours in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, that the schoolgirl may have chosen to go missing from home.

She did not run away, she did not stay voluntarily in the flat – less than a mile from her home – where she was found, and she was under no illusion that she was playing a game with her kidnapper, the source said.

Police insiders have also poured scorn on a theory that Shannon’s disappearance was a hoax staged by one or more members of her family in the hope of gaining the reward money offered for her safe return.

“Don’t be in any doubt. This is an incredibly serious case,” a police source told The Times.

It is understood that information provided by Shannon since her release has also led detectives to conclude that she would have been in grave danger had she not been rescued on Friday.

Police have already been granted two extended periods of detention to continue questioning Michael Donovan, also known as Paul Drake, who is under arrest on suspicion of Shannon’s abduction.

Mr Donovan, 39, who lives on disability benefits, is the uncle of the girl’s stepfather, Craig Meehan, 22, a super-market fishmonger.

Mr Donovan, who is being held at a high-security police station in Halifax, is understood to have sought to implicate other members of Shannon’s extended family in the girl’s abduction. His claims are being investigated.

If Mr Donovan has not been charged with any offence by 10.30am today police have the option of applying to a magistrate for a warrant to continue questioning him for another 24 hours.

Contrary to some reports, Shannon’s mother, Karen Matthews, 32, has not yet been reunited with her daughter, who has been placed under an emergency police protection order.

Mrs Matthews was allowed to look through a one-way mirror to confirm her daughter’s identity on Friday afternoon, but police do not want to give any members of the family any opportunity to influence the girl’s evidence.

In a statement issued through the police yesterday, Mrs Matthews said that she supported the police action and accepted that her daughter might be away from home “for some time”. “I fully understand that the police need to keep speaking to Shannon to establish exactly what has happened during the time that she has been missing and I appreciate that is not something that is going to happen overnight,” she said.

“The most important thing is that Shannon is safe. I’ve seen her and I’m completely happy that she is being very well looked after and is being given all the care she needs.”

Almost all the medical tests have been completed, but some forensic science work is continuing.

It emerged yesterday that Mr Donovan, who changed his name from Drake by deed poll, left his flat several times during the 24 days that Shannon was the subject of a nationwide police hunt. He made daily trips to buy cans of lager from a local off-licence and on one evening is said to have visited a bingo hall.

Described by neighbours as a loner, the 5ft 6in, lightly built suspect has two daughters, aged 12 and 10, from a failed marriage to Susan Bird, who now lives in Cornwall. At one time Mr Donovan’s children, who were later taken into care, had residency with him.

Eighteen months ago he was arrested and charged with abduction after his wife complained that he had snatched his daughters and taken them to Blackpool. The charge was later dropped.

Police last night held a meeting in a local church with members of the community in Dewsbury in an attempt to reassure local people about the progress of the investigation.

They were seeking to dismiss claims that they could have found Shannon more quickly and to calm local frustrations over the decision to take her into police protection.

— A kitten is helping Shannon Matthews to adapt to normal life.

The child is being encouraged to play with the animal in an attempt to make her feel as at home as possible in the child-friendly interview suite. The purpose-built room, with its toys and soft furnishings much more prominent than its video cameras, is being used for a process that is likely to last for several days and is being conducted by two female detectives with a child psychologist and a social worker at hand.

Questions are being allowed to occupy only two hours a day. Shannon, said to be bubbly, chatty and excited, has been provided with drawing materials to help her to express herself in pictures.

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