Greater Manchester Police appeal for help to track down mother of baby found in field

During a press conference on Friday, detectives made an urgent appeal to the public for information that could help track down the mother of a baby, referred to as Baby A by Greater Manchester Police, after their remains were discovered in a Salford field.

Detective Chief Inspector Charlotte Whalley expressed her team's urgent priority: "Our investigation is in the early stages and we do not know the background or circumstances that led to this baby being separated from a mum."

She further stressed the importance of the mother’s safety, stating "We don’t know the pressures the mum might have been under before she gave birth or in the times afterwards, but our priority is to find answers and to make sure the mum is safe."

She also made a direct plea: "We know the baby’s mum is somewhere out there, potentially watching this, and we would appeal for anyone who may know the mum or had their suspicions about her pregnancy to come forward so we can find her and speak to her."

DCI Whalley emphasised the support that awaits the mother, saying "We will do anything we can to help the mum. Trained officers are ready to support her, no matter what the circumstances are, please contact us."

The baby was found near Ashtons Field in Salford on Wednesday by a dog walker and prior to the press briefing, the force revealed they were following various leads to determine how long the child had been in the field and the cause of death.

The discovery site is notably close to a road layby, warehouses, and not far from junctions of the M61 motorway, just northwest of Manchester.

Ms Whalley addressed the press at a conference held at GMP HQ in Manchester, stating that a post-mortem examination of a child, which includes more procedures including a full skeletal survey, will take place early next week, with the results expected on Tuesday or Wednesday. Until then, police could not provide details about the sex or ethnicity of the child or cause of death.

Ms Whalley stated: "The main crux is to identify the mother."

"We have had fantastic support from the community but there’s a high level of emotion and grief but people have been approaching us to give us good information."

The officer revealed that the dog walker, a woman, discovered the baby and initially called a relative "out of sheer shock" before immediately contacting the police, at around 12.22pm on Wednesday. Police reported that the baby was wrapped in a pink fabric, and detectives are collaborating with soil experts, archaeologists and anthropologists to determine how long the child’s body had been there before it was discovered.

Ms Whalley added: "When the walker found the baby the body was not buried, we are trying to establish if the baby had been buried prior to that."

Police plan to conduct a thorough search of the area surrounding where the baby was found, which will continue into next week.

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