Police give update as they appeal for mother of dead newborn to come forward

The Metropolitan Police have provided an update after a new born baby boy was discovered outside a church in Notting Hill

Transcript

00:00We've heard from Marsha Haynes, who is the Deputy Church Warden at All Saints Church

00:08here in Notting Hill. She said she had never heard of anything similar in her life and

00:14described how large amounts of police arrived just as she was preparing the food bank. Miss

00:21Haynes added when she found out a baby had died, she became freaked out. She said, I

00:28just had to abandon what I was doing and go home because I thought I was going to be ill.

00:36She also said she let two female police officers into the church on Tuesday afternoon as part

00:43of their investigation. Most of the cordon around the church has now been removed and

00:52you can find a number of tributes to the baby. Bunches of flowers and a toy bunny were left

00:58by a tree near to where the police tent was originally. I want to praise the professionalism

01:05in particular of the local refuse worker and also the responding emergency services who

01:10I know will have been deeply affected by the incident yesterday. As shocking and tragic

01:18as this is, my priority remains with the mother's welfare and health. We are really worried

01:26about her wellbeing as she will have recently given birth. I know she will likely be feeling

01:33very frightened and going through an extremely difficult time. If you are the baby's mother

01:43and you see this today, I want to appeal directly to you to come forward and receive help. My

01:50priority is to help you and make sure that you can receive medical assistance. You can

01:56do this at any time by attending any hospital, police station or by calling the emergency

02:02services. I also want to appeal this morning to anyone who may have information that can

02:10assist us with our investigation. In particular, if you saw anyone in this area with the Marks

02:16Dispensers bag or saw anything that you felt was unusual, you can do this by calling 101

02:24or making an online report quoting reference 1879 of today's date.