UK - Police Leave Baby Abandoned On Steps~ Later Dies

The parents of a baby boy who died after being abandoned outside a mosque has been arrested in connection with his death, police said today.

Staffordshire police, whose handling of the incident is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), said today that the baby was found in a carrier bag which contained £20 and a note which said "Please help bury him" and an Arabic word for thank you.

The IPCC has launched an inquiry into the initial police response to the discovery of the baby, who was not taken to hospital until almost an hour after he was found.

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Police faced criticism immediately after the discovery, amid claims officers had failed to realise the baby was breathing. But the IPCC investigation found the infant was not breathing or moving and had no pulse when he was found.

Inquiries by the IPCC also established that the baby had been taken to hospital around an hour after his body was discovered because a senior detective could not be absolutely satisfied that life was extinct despite seeing no obvious signs of life...


Commenting on the inquiry, IPCC Commissioner Len Jackson said: "Medical tests support the view that the baby was stillborn, and therefore would have been dead for at least 10 hours before any police officers became involved...


The IPCC has made one recommendation - to ensure the force has a robust system in place for sudden death incidents and officers immediately seek expert medical help....


A couple were arrested in connection with the death but have since been released from their bail with no further action.

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Police were under scrutiny when it emerged the child was not taken to hospital for more than an hour after officers arrived at the Beresford Street mosque at 10.30am on March 6.

The first officer on the scene, seeing the baby was not breathing or moving, was cold, and had no pulse, concluded he was dead and called for back-up, including a police surgeon to certify the death.

At 11.30am, when a senior detective realised a surgeon had not yet arrived, an ambulance was called. However the infant was taken to hospital in a police car, because it was quicker, and confirmed dead at 12.30pm.

The confusion led to mistaken reports that the child had shown signs of life, but medical tests confirmed the child was stillborn. He was left outside the mosque at midnight, 10-and-a-half hours before police arrived.

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