West Yorkshire police today released new evidence in the Shannon Matthews kidnapping case, including photographs of the leash with which she was allegedly restrained in Michael Donovan's flat and the list of rules she was given to keep her quiet.

Mr Donovan, 40, earlier claimed that the leash was a "mystery" to him as he had never been able to access the loft rafters from which it was found hanging. But the photograph submitted at his trial clearly shows the white strap hanging through the open ceiling hatch with the beams visible above.

A second photograph shows a list of rules written in blue ink on a sheet of lined A4 paper, found on top of Donovan's television set. The list, in scrawled, childlike handwriting, includes instructions not to go near the windows, to make noise or stamp feet, or to get or do anything without Mr Donovan present. Several of the instructions have portions underlined.

Under cross-examination, Mr Donovan denied drawing up the instructions, insisting he had only copied them out from a list given to him by Shannon's mother Karen Matthews. He maintains that he was an unwilling pawn in a scheme devised by Matthews to claim reward money, coerced by threats she made upon his life.

Shannon, then nine, was discovered hidden in the base of a bed in Mr Donovan’s Batley Carr flat, 24 days after she went missing from her Dewsbury Moor home in February this year. The prosecution alleges that he and Ms Matthews, his nephew's 33-year-old partner, orchestrated the fake abduction in order to claim £50,000 in reward money donated by the public. Both deny kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice in connection with the girl’s disappearance.

Earlier, jurors were read letters written by Shannon that were found in Mr Donovan's flat.

One, addressed to her brother, read: “I’m missing you so much. I’ll ask Mike if he will take me to see you, OK? I love you so much, so is Mike. Love Shannon. I love you.”

A second note read: “I need to take my DVDs home, I need to take my clothes home, I need to take my Bratz shoe home, I need to take my stuff home, OK?”

However Mr Donovan denied that Shannon had asked him to take her home during her time at the flat, or that he had refused because she was being held captive.

He also denied that he had pressured Shannon to act as if she was his daughter, and that he had forced her to wear clothing left behind by one of his own children, who had moved away with his former wife.

“I showed her some. It was up to her if she wore it or not,” he told the jury at Leeds Crown Court.

Yesterday, the court heard that Mr Donovan was charged with abduction 15 months ago after taking one of his daughters to Blackpool during a custody dispute with his former wife - though the case was later dropped. But Mr Donovan denied planning to take Shannon to Blackpool.

Frances Oldham, for Karen Matthews, told the court that a letter and picture by Shannon referring to Blackpool had been found in Mr Donovan’s flat. Mr Donovan agreed that the nine-year-old had written to one of his daughters and drawn a picture of Blackpool after he said it was his one of his favourite seaside places, but he said the schoolgirl had made them of “her own free will” and he had not forced her.

Mrs Oldham also read out a letter written by Shannon, which said: “Dear John, when me and my dad go to Blackpool, we’re going to take some pictures of Blackpool seaside and a bus. I love you, I will miss you, so will my dad. Love Shannon and Dad.”

Mr Donovan said Shannon was referring to Craig Meehan when she wrote “Dad” and said he did not know who John was.

A forensic psychiatrist who spent five hours interviewing the accused following his arrest told the court that Mr Donovan had said he enjoyed Shannon's company. He liked looking after her, feeding her and playing computer games with her, but had never done anything improper, Mr Donovan had claimed.

The trial continues.

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