it was well known in the area that tony the step son was forever running away,the mothers family who i know had told the police in the first week that the step son was been punched and not smacked for trivial reasons.the day shannon went missing she had told friends at school that she was going to get hit when she got home so she was running away,you have to remember the area is like a village and nothing goes unoticed so i assume social workers knew about the family.The night shannon went missing my friend saw her at abot 18-45pm not far from her school the night was freezing and very foggy,nobody about and the road was quiet so she stopped and was going to ask the girl if there was anything the matter,but she saw a car approaching slowing down and it looked like it was slowing down to pick her,so she assumed she was getting a lift because girl looked as if she was waiting for a lift,so she thought nothing till she heard shannon had gone missing and told the police the day after.my friend could not sleep thinking if only she had gone and asked the girl if everything was ok it might have never gone as far as it did,but as i said in my previous post police followed through her report and found the little girl in nearby flats with her step uncle .but as i think and a lot of people in the area think there is more to it than meets the eye