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A NINE-year-old girl has been found alive against the odds nearly a month after she was abducted.

Police smashed their way into a home and discovered the youngster hidden in a bed base overnight.

It was an incredible ending to one of the biggest police operations Britain has ever seen.

Officers had grown increasingly concerned for Shannon Matthews safety, with one expert saying today it was "quite rare that you would find a child alive after all this time".

A 39-year-old man, believed to be related to Shannon`s stepfather, has been arrested on suspicion of abducting her.

The case that has gripped Britain came to an end with a brief police statement saying: "Shannon is currently in the care of West Yorkshire Police. Investigations are ongoing."

The youngster went missing on February 19 after going on a swimming trip in the town of Dewsbury, prompting one of the biggest investigations in the area since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry of the late 1970s.

`She was scared`

Detectives found her during a raid on a flat in nearby Batley Carr overnight (AEDT). She was hidden in the base of a divan bed.

Neighbours said police smashed their way into the house and brought her out. She appeared "quite calm", witnesses told reporters at the scene.

"She looked OK - there didn`t seem to be any physical marks on her. You could tell she was scared, though," one unnamed resident told the Yorkshire Evening Post website.

Police raided the house after a tipoff from a close neighbour, according to an unconfirmed report on Sky News.

Desperate search

Relatives said police had driven the girl`s mother Karen Matthews from the family home this afternoon for a reunion.

Hundreds of police, dog handlers and mountain rescue teams had joined the search for the girl.

Officers have spoken to more than 1500 motorists.

Police leading the search had spoken of their grave concern for the girl and likened the investigation to a murder inquiry.

Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan said last month: "What concerns me greatly at this point is that Shannon as a vulnerable nine-year-old girl may have fallen into the wrong hands".

Former Scotland Yard detective, Mike Hames, told Sky News today the police "always thought she was being kept away from home by someone that knows her".

"It is quite rare that you would find a child alive after all this time," he added.

Karen Matthews made repeated emotional appeals for her daughter`s safe return.

On Mother`s Day, she said: "I have a special bond with Shannon and I feel sure that she is alive and will come home to her mum."

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