The hunt for missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews cost £2.7m

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The police hunt for the missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews cost a whopping £2.7million, it has been revealed.

The investigation was the country's biggest ever missing persons inquiry and saw more than 250 uniformed officers and 60 detectives searching for the nine-year-old.

It had been thought that the search cost about £1million but the true cost was unveiled after a Freedom of Information request was submitted to West Yorkshire Police.

The schoolgirl was found 24 days later at a flat a mile away from her home - after her mother Karen Matthews, 32, allegedly admitted that she knew where she was.

She has been remanded in custody and charged with perverting the course of justice and child neglect.

Shannon was found hidden in the base of a divan bed after she went missing following a school swimming trip.

The frantic hunt gripped the nation as friends and relatives desperately searched for her.

Michael Donovan, 39, of Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, is also in custody after being charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Karen's ex-boyfriend Craig Meehan is awaiting trial on child porn charges - which are not related to the Shannon case.

The reply to the freedom of information request said: 'To date the Shannon Matthews investigation has cost the force £2,659,000.'