A police constable today told a court of the “surreal” moment when he found the man accused of imprisoning kidnap victim Shannon Matthews for 24 days hiding in the base of a double bed.

Police dragged Michael Donovan to his feet and handcuffed him after he tried to bite one of the arresting officers, the officer told a jury at Leeds Crown Court today, where Mr Donovan is on trial with nine-year-old Shannon's mother, Karen.

He described how Mr Donovan, 40, was taken down to a police van, where he allegedly freely confessed his and Ms Matthews' part in the plot to claim the reward for the missing girl..

“Get Karen down here, we’ve got a plan," Mr Donovan is alleged to have said. "We are sharing the £50,000.”

Evidence of how the schoolgirl was found emerged on the fifth day of Mr Donovan and Miss Matthews's trial on charges of kidnapping Shannon, falsely imprisoning her and perverting the course of justice.

The jury at Leeds Crown court has been told that a massive search was launched on February 19 when Shannon disappeared in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, after a school swimming trip.

The court was shown several videos of her mother making tearful appeals for her daughter’s return and for anyone holding her to free her.

She was eventually found 24 days later after officers made a routine call at Mr Donovan's first floor flat in Batley Carr near Dewsbury. When no one answered the door but neighbours said that Mr Donovan was at home with a small child, they called in officers from the force’s Operational Support Unit, who broke into the property.

Detective Constable Paul Kettlewell said that whilst searching the flat they heard a child's voice saying: "Stop it, you're frightening me."

He told the jury: “As I was beginning to think perhaps the voice came from inside the bed, there was a noise inside the bed as a small girl started to emerge."

As colleagues passed the girl to him, he said she was “frightened and crying."

Det Con Kettlewell said the two other officers in the room helped the girl out of the bed and handed her to him so that he could carry her to a police car so she could be taken to a place of safety.

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