AN ARREST has been made in reference to the invention of the body of a newborn baby outside All Saints’, Notting Hill, in London, last week.
The child had been deposited in a shopping bag, which was found by a refuse employee in Powis Gardens, at about lunchtime. Paramedics attended soon after, and pronounced the infant dead on the scene.
The Metropolitan Police immediately appealed for the mother to come back forward. On Monday, it was confirmed that a lady had been arrested on Saturday on suspicion of concealing a birth, neglect, and infanticide.
The woman was immediately taken to hospital, where she remained, a police statement said on Monday afternoon.
A forensic post-mortem later this week is predicted to assist officers to know more concerning the baby boy’s death. They remain open-minded concerning the circumstances.
Supt. Owen Renowden said: “We imagine that the lady is the infant’s mother, and I’m reassured that she is receiving the support she needs, while officers proceed their work to know what took place.
“This is an ongoing, fast-paced investigation, with officers working tirelessly to establish the circumstances of the infant boy’s death.”
In his sermon on Sunday, the Vicar of All Saints’, the Revd Charles Card-Reynolds, acknowledged the poignance of Mothering Sunday, and the way “we must not guess nor judge what has happened but wait with prayer.”
A mass for the feast of the Annunciation had just been celebrated within the church when the kid’s body was found, he said, and a police cordon had surrounded the constructing for five days.
“We offered a requiem mass for the infant boy,” Fr Card-Reynolds said. “Outside the church’s Walsingham chapel, many flowers and tributes were placed in memory of the infant; we gathered these up and placed them before the image of our Lady. The flowers and tributes have kept coming.
“I actually have been pleased to listen to from many passers-by that we mustn’t judge — and that is, in fact, the graceful response. Those near this baby boy have to feel assured that they will come forward and can be met with support.”
One local resident expressed concern that the church and its environs were a goal for anti-social behaviour, including drug abuse, and that this latest occurrence was “a tragedy”.
