FIFTEEN years ago, the news broke that nine-year-old Shannon Matthews was found safe and well. It would later become clear that she had been abducted as part of a plot by her mother and an accomplice. 

Shannon Matthews was found safe and well on March 14, 2008 after a dramatic police rescue ended her 24-day abduction ordeal.

Police smashed their way into a flat about a mile from the nine-year-old's home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and found her hidden in the base of a bed.

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Neighbours said they saw the youngster being carried out of the house and a man being dragged away by officers.

A 39-year-old man, reported to be a member of her extended family, was under arrest, suspected of her abduction.

Police were beginning to piece together what happened to the "timid" youngster since she disappeared following a school swimming trip on February 19.

The kidnapping was later found to have been planned by Shannon's mother Karen Matthews and Michael Donovan to generate money from the publicity.

Donovan was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment and Matthews was charged with child neglect and perverting the course of justice on April 8, 2008.

Northern Rock chairman Ron Sandler said an announcement that more than 2,000 jobs would be lost was "most likely" the best solution to the bank's problems, on March 14, 2008.

Mr Sandler, who was appointed by the Government in February 2008 when the bank was nationalised, had been preparing a business plan for its future.

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The bank outlined its proposals to pay back its £25bn debt to the Bank of England and become a private company again.

Speaking to The Northern Echo, Mr Sandler said that proposals to scale down the bank's operation, which included shedding a third of the 6,500 workforce by 2011, was the best way of "creating a viable bank that will continue to be a significant employer in this region".

"Whereas the job losses are regrettable, we need to remind ourselves that the purpose of this exercise is to ensure Northern Rock remains a financially viable bank and to remind ourselves the preservation of jobs is our intention."