Police Plea for Baby Left in Tesco Bag
An inquest has heard how the parents of a newborn baby found dead inside a carrier bag dumped on a country lane appealed for an Islamic funeral for the infant.
Named Alia by detectives, coroners believe that the baby may have lain dead at the roadside for up to 11 days after passers-by mistakenly assumed that her tiny body was rubbish.
However, authorities have issued a final plea for the baby’s mother and father to come forward, saying ‘it was never too late.’
The grim discovery was only made when a couple walking their dog picked up the bundle to place it in their own bin.
They discovered the infant wrapped in a white t-shirt and stuffed in the bag alongside a pair of jogging bottoms.
The child’s mother and father have never been traced, despite witnesses reporting seeing an Asian woman sobbing at the rural scene.
DNA samples taken from the child failed to identify her parents.
In a further bid to trace the newborn’s parents Greater Manchester Police have reviewed 3,000 hours of CCTV, traced discarded bus receipts and even visited 53 people in a 15 mile radius who had bought the same Tesco white shirt found with Alia.
NHS Direct, walk-in clinics, colleges and even schools were all asked for assistance as well as investigations into the circulation of shop carrier bags.
An inquest was finally heard into Alia’s death 20 months after she was discovered in Ox Hey Lane, Lostock, Bolton, Greater Manchester on 14th March 2013.
The hearing heard that it was likely that she had only lived for a matter of hours and that she was found with the placenta and her umbilical cord still attached. Tests revealed she was a full term baby of 36 weeks old.
The shopping bag had been spotted by several people in the days before infant was found, yet people had believed it to have contained rubbish.
Dog walker Colin Eccles who made the discovery whilst walking with his wife Marilyn around 5pm after his wife noticed there was ‘a lot of rubbish in the bag’ and said to ‘pull it out and take it home and put in the bin’.
‘As I pulled the bag out there was some material in the bag, as I pulled the bag the material fell to one side,’ he said.
‘I opened the material and then that was the time I saw the child.’
Another witness told the inquest how days earlier he had been walking with his wife Jane on Mothering Sunday last year, when they initially spotted a black Sports Direct carrier bag on the left hand side of the lane underneath the hedgerow that had looked ‘totally out of place’.
Dean Crombie added that Mrs Crombie had complained of the rubbish and they were again both to see the bag two days later.
It is believed that the Tesco bag had been within the Sports Direct bag which was never found.
In a statement read to the court Mrs Crombie said that as she drove along the lane on the day of the discovery she saw the bag, and described what appeared to be ‘clothing pouring out of the bag’.
Student at nearby Bolton Wanderers Academy, Arron Goodison, said he had seen what he had believed to have been ‘a doll’ in the bag.’
‘There was this strange smell and we saw clothing or something like clothing,’ he told the hearing.
‘There was a weird smell every time we went past it. We didn’t think anything of it at first. It was a black bag, I saw clothing, when I looked into it looked like a doll.’
He added that he had also seen an Asian woman ‘acting strangely’ in the vicinity.
‘She was walking up and down and looked suspicious. She seemed like she was crying, she looked like she was really upset. She seemed like she was crying because her face was down.’
Home Office pathologist Dr Philip Lumb said that he was unable to find a medical cause of death but was able to conclude that Alia had lived for a number of hours.
He was unable to confirm if any trauma had occurred but could exclude major injuries.
The inquest heard that the white Florence and Fred shirt with a 50′ collar was investigated with 53 sold locally, and all owners were visited and spoken to.
Detective Inspector Aaron Duggan said: ‘We completed best chance inquiries to find out what happened to Alia.’
Bolton Coroner Alan Walsh recorded an open verdict into the death of little Alia.
He said: ”It saddens me a great deal that baby Alia lived for a matter of hours, maybe only two hours.
‘She had an extremely short life It’s appropriate that the police called her Alia which means ‘beautiful’, sadly her beautiful short life came to a rapid end.
‘I have to accept that very sadly the deceased could not be identified. It is likely that the bag had been put in its position sometime between the 3rd and 10th of March 2013.
‘It saddens me she wasn’t able to blossom into a beautiful young lady.
‘It is extremely sad she should have died in these circumstances without any medical help or medical attention.
‘I’m disappointed that the parents of the child did not come forward.
‘It saddens me; she would not have had the benefits of parents to lay her to rest in the appropriate way.
‘I accept the police inquiries have been exhausted but the file will remain open, if any information comes forward the police will investigate.
‘I believe it is not too late for someone to come forward. I believe it is a matter that would be important to establish what happened to baby Alia.’
