Police found her inside a divan bed in a first floor flat at Lidgate Gardens.

It is believed a woman who lived in the flat underneath had raised the alarm after hearing the noise of someone stamping their feet.

Neighbour Mandy Dixon, said: "We heard them smash a window. We thought it was a drug raid at first. They put the window through. Two coppers came down and said, 'We've got her.'"

She said a suited CID officer came down with Shannon in his arms, hiding her face in his shoulder.

Then, she said, a man was brought down in police custody. He was described as thin, with short mousey hair.

She said she was so angry to see Shannon emerge out of his flat, she swore at him as he was taken away.

She said: "He wasn't standing up properly and all he kept saying when they dragged him out was, 'You are hurting me.'"

Mother of three and grandmother of four Ann Kitchen, 58, also of Lidgate Gardens, said: "When I came out, Shannon was clinging on to the police officer, crying. It was just amazing. I'm so glad they've found her alive.

"To think it can happen on your own doorstep. What her mum must have been going through all these weeks, I can't imagine."

Christopher Heaps, 47, of Lidgate Gardens said: "The police officer near me confirmed it was Shannon. She looked clean and tidy, she looked really well.

"Then she was taken down the stairs and put straight into a police car. It was unbelievable."

One neighbour from Lidgate Gardens, who did not want to be named, said he was gobsmacked when police carried Shannon out of the flat.

He said: "A police officer brought Shannon out and took her to the car. She walked part of the way herself."

Shannon had been missing for 24 days, having not been seen since being dropped off at her school in Dewsbury Moor after a swimming lesson.

As the News went to press Shannon was still in the care of police.

Shannon's family lived in Healey before moving to Dewsbury Moor.