A man charged with the kidnap and false imprisonment of English schoolgirl Shannon Matthews will go on trial later this year, a judge said today.
Michael Donovan (39), from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, is due to stand trial at Leeds Crown Court on November 11th. He appeared before the court via a videolink from Armley prison in Leeds.
The Recorder of Leeds judge Peter Collier remanded him in custody. Another hearing is due to take place on July 11th.
Mr Donovan was arrested on March 14th after police raided a house in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, and found the missing nine-year-old. She disappeared on February 19th, prompting one of the biggest police inquiries in the area since the Yorkshire Ripper investigation of the 1970s.
The schoolgirl remains in police care while detectives try to establish exactly what happened to her.
In a statement released earlier this month, her mother Karen Matthews said: "I fully understand that the police need to keep speaking to Shannon. I appreciate that could take some time and is not something that is going to happen overnight.
"When we do get Shannon back home with us we will plan a bit of party to welcome her home and we will be involving all the community in that to thank them for all their support."