Baby dumped in a bag in bushes on rural footpath was just a
'few days old'
The infant still had umbilical cord attached when abandoned
in Oxfordshire
Police not revealing sex of the baby or whether it was
wearing any clothes
Officers still trying to trace mother and reasons as to why
baby dumped
A baby which was found dumped inside a bag on a country
footpath was only a few days old when it died and still had its umbilical cord
attached, police revealed today.
The body of the tiny infant was discovered by a dog walker
in bushes which were hidden from immediate view of a rural footpath in the
quiet village of Marston, Oxfordshire, yesterday morning.
Police said they will not release the gender of the baby or
whether it was wearing any clothing 'because it will affect the investigation',
but confirmed the child was 'a few days old' when it died.
Officers also refused to reveal the sex of the person who
found the body, saying to do so 'would be irrelevant'. They continue to hunt
the baby's mother who is likely to 'need urgent medical attention'.
Superintendent Christian Bunt, of Thames Valley Police, said
detectives were not able to disclose whether they thought the baby was dead or
alive when it was ditched by a popular cycle route which leads away from the
residential street of Edgeway Road in Marston.
But it was confirmed the child's body had been placed into
the bag and dumped in the bushes.
Speaking at an urgently-called press conference today, he
said: 'The main bit we want to get across today is the welfare of the mother.
'Clearly this is a very tragic and upsetting situation for
everyone involved, including the local community.
'While the police clearly have got a role to play, we do not
want to put the mother off from coming forward. We have a role in establishing
what has happened.
'Firstly we need to establish what has happened to the baby
and secondly, trying to locate the mother.
'Our number one priority is the mother. In terms of the baby
we will look to establish exactly what has happened. From our initial
assessment what we can say is that the umbilical cord was still attached to the
baby when it was found.
'That clearly means there is going to be some health
implication if the mother does not get seen by a doctor. That mother is going
to need to see a doctor urgently.'
The leafy path where the child was dumped takes a linear
course past a number of fields before splaying out into a fork with a large
field and patch of woodland between the two pathways.
A triangular perimeter remains marked out with blue and
white police tape for a second day today.
Forensic experts are continuing their excavation of the
shrubbery approximately 150 yards down a dry and muddied track, which spouts
from the main cycle path.
Speaking at police headquarters in Kidlington, Oxfordshire,
Mr Bunt added: 'I would like to appeal to the mother that if she is reading
this that she comes forward and presents herself to a doctor.
'She does not need to go to the police but a doctor or a
nurse at a GP surgery or at the hospital, anywhere she can get medical help.
'But I am also appealing to family, friends and the local
community, if they have an inkling about who this mother could be, to contact
us.
'The appeal for that information is about getting medical
help. I do not want to put the mum off by her thinking 'why are the police
getting involved in this?'
'This looks like quite a tragic situation and the mum will
be in an extremely frightened and upset position and may not be thinking
straight.
'She just needs medical support. The rest of it we can sort
out later on.'
Members of the coroner's service arrived at the scene in a
private ambulance and extracted the small body from the bushes yesterday
afternoon. The body was seen being removed in a trolley with a purple sheet
over it.
The exact circumstances surrounding the baby's death are
still unknown today but officers said they expect answers once a post-mortem
examination of the body is carried out on Thursday.
Last night the mystery deepened when it was discovered that
an unknown person placed a small, soft, plush toy bunny on the ground so it was
sitting against a wooden post beside the cattle grid at the entrance to the
cycle path.
People at the scene concurred that the cuddly toy had not
been there upon their arrival, but had been mysteriously placed by the cattle
grid between 3pm and 3:30pm.
The owner of the toy disappeared shortly after it was put in
position.
It is not known at this stage whether the mother of the
child had returned to the scene to lay a small tribute before making a swift
departure.
A police officer at the scene said the toy would be bagged
up as evidence and examined in the hope of tracing the owner.
Anyone with any information should call the 24-hour Thames
Valley Police enquiry centre on 101.
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