Detectives believe they are a step closer to solving the 13-year mystery of a dead baby boy found in a brook in Kirkham.
Find the full story at: https://www.lep.co.uk/news/detectives-step-closer-to-solving-13-year-mystery-of-baby-boy-found-dead-in-kirkham-brook-5041406
Find the full story at: https://www.lep.co.uk/news/detectives-step-closer-to-solving-13-year-mystery-of-baby-boy-found-dead-in-kirkham-brook-5041406
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00:00Hello I'm live reporter Sean Gleaves and I'm currently standing next to Spenbrook
00:03in Kirkham where the body of a baby boy was tragically found 13 years ago in
00:07October 2011. Today on March 19th, Detective Chief Inspector Brian E. Midgley
00:13of the Major Crime Review Team confirmed the baby's dad had been identified
00:17thanks to advances in DNA technology. He is being supported by specially trained
00:21officers. Work is now ongoing to identify the mother with anyone who may have any
00:26information that might help their investigation urge to come forward.
00:29Hello and thank you for coming to Kirkham this morning. I'm Detective Chief
00:34Inspector Brian E. Midgley of Lancashire Police and today I am renewing our
00:38appeal for information in the hope we can solve the mystery of the tragic
00:43death of a newborn baby boy more than 13 years ago. His body was sadly found in
00:49Spenbrook here in Kirkham on Saturday October the 1st 2011. A thorough
00:56investigation was carried out but unfortunately his parents were never
01:00identified. We are now reinvestigating his death. This is such a sad case and it
01:08had a huge impact on the community here in Kirkham. A major part of our
01:13investigation is trying to find out who the baby's boy's mum is. We ask that
01:19anyone who has any information which could help us find the mum, however small
01:24that piece of information might be, to come forward and speak to us. We believe
01:30that somebody knows who she is and what happened back in 2011. You might not have
01:36wanted to come forward back then but with the passage of time it will feel
01:40right to do so now. Our specially trained officers will be there to support you.
01:46We've made progress, we have made progress as the baby boy's dad has now
01:51been traced thanks to advances in DNA technology. The dad who lived in
01:57Blackpool has been assisting with this investigation but we have still so far
02:02been unable to identify baby's mum. These scientific developments should also help
02:08us to confirm who his mum is. If you have any information which you think could
02:13help us please contact my team on 101. Yep so back on the 1st of October 2011 a
02:20dog walker out in this field found sadly a baby boy who was in the brook.
02:26Within Lancashire Police within the last 18 months we've set up a cold case major
02:31crime review team and this is the one of the priority investigations that we
02:35would like to get answers for. We have a small and dedicated team who are
02:39working through any unresolved investigations within Lancashire Police
02:43that have had a significant impact on the community. As you imagine it would
02:47be shock and he is being supported by specialist officers and he's working
02:52closely with our team and helping us as much as he can. And I imagine some people
02:55have the question of if you know who the dad is how do you not know who the mum
02:59is? What would you say to that? I don't think we should ask too many questions
03:03around that and we are doing our best to try and identify who mum is but today
03:07I'm really appealing to people to come forward with any information they might
03:12have that would assist us in identifying who mum is. As you know forensic science
03:16and DNA technology has advanced drastically in the last 13 years which
03:21has helped us to identify who dad is and we're hoping that that same science
03:25will eventually lead us to who mum is but we need a sample of her DNA to be
03:30able to compare it to the baby's. I think for everybody they want answers we've
03:35got a quiet community here where this did have a significant impact and it
03:39certainly impacted the officers who worked on the investigation back in 2011
03:43and my team now and we were really striving to find answers. We want to be
03:48able to give this baby an identity and try and understand how he came to be
03:52found in such tragic circumstances. I'm really urging anybody who might have any
03:57information that could assist us to please come forward. Are you a friend of
04:01mum? Did you have a friend you had concerns for who may have been pregnant
04:04but never came home with a child? Were you a health professional or a social
04:09worker who might have had concerns about one of your clients but for whatever
04:13reason couldn't come forward and speak to our team back in 2011? Please come
04:18forward now even if you think it's just something really small it could be
04:22really significant.