The partner of Shannon Matthews’s mother was today refused bail on charges of possessing child pornography.

Craig Meehan, 22, was remanded in custody at Dewsbury Magistrates Court, where he appeared accused of 11 specimen offences of posession of indecent images of children. He will remain in jail until his next court hearing on April 22.

It is alleged that Mr Meehan, a supermarket fishmonger, of Moorside Road, Dewsbury, possessed 140 indecent images of children graded at levels one to four — on a scale in which one is the least serious and five is the most serious. They were allegedly found on two computers at the family home in Dewsbury where he has lived with Karen Matthews for about five years.

He was arrested on April 2 by officers investigating the disappearance of Shannon. The 9-year-old went missing on February 19 and was discovered hidden in the base of a bed in a flat in Batley Carr, only one mile from her home in Dewsbury, after a 24-day search by police.

Mr Meehan’s uncle, Michael Donovan, 39, of Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr, has been charged with Shannon’s kidnap and imprisonment. His trial has been set provisionally for November 11, at Leeds Crown Court.

Karen Matthews, 32, appeared in court on Wednesday charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice. She was remanded in custody and will next appear at Leeds Crown Court on April 16.

Yesterday, Mr Meehan’s mother Alice Meehan, 49, and her daughters Amanda Hyett, 25, and Caroline Meehan, 29, were also arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. All three were later released on bail pending further inquiries.

Mr Meehan was brought to the rear of Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court in a small white prison van. There was no large police presence and only a handful of photographers and TV crews as the van arrived at court shortly before 9am.

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