AN ARREST has been made in connection with the discovery of the body of a newborn baby boy outside All Saints’, Notting Hill, in London, last week.
The child had been deposited in a shopping bag, which was found by a refuse worker in Powis Gardens, at about lunchtime. Paramedics attended soon after, and pronounced the infant dead at the scene.
The Metropolitan Police immediately appealed for the mother to come forward. On Monday, it was confirmed that a woman 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 expected to help officers to understand more about the baby boy’s death. They remain open-minded about the circumstances.
Supt. Owen Renowden said: “We believe that the woman is the baby’s mother, and I am reassured that she is receiving the support she needs, while officers continue their work to understand what took place.
“This is an ongoing, fast-paced investigation, with officers working tirelessly to ascertain the circumstances of the baby 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 how “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 in the church when the child’s body was found, he said, and a police cordon had surrounded the building for five days.
“We offered a requiem mass for the baby boy,” Fr Card-Reynolds said. “Outside the church’s Walsingham chapel, many flowers and tributes were placed in memory of the baby; we gathered these up and placed them before the image of our Lady. The flowers and tributes have kept coming.
“I have been pleased to hear from many passers-by that we mustn’t judge — and this is, of course, the graceful response. Those close to this baby boy need to feel assured that they can come forward and will be met with support.”
One local resident expressed concern that the church and its environs were a target for anti-social behaviour, including drug abuse, and that this latest occurrence was “a tragedy”.