Police make direct appeal to mother of baby found dead in Salford
ITV News' Emma Sweeney has been in Salford as police appeal for the mother of the baby found dead to come forward.
Police are appealing for the mother of a baby whose remains were discovered in Salford to come forward and help with their investigation.
The body was found by a woman who was walking her dog near Ashtons Field, Salford, at around 12.30pm on Wednesday 20 November. Police have named the child Baby A.
Two days on from the discovery, Greater Manchester Police say they do not know "the background or circumstances" that led to the death of Baby A.
The force is following several lines of inquiry to understand how long the infant was in the field its cause of death.
At a press conference, Detective Chief Inspector Charlotte Whalley said: "This week, we have discovered the remains of a baby near to the layby off Cleggs Lane, by Ashtons Field in Little Hulton.
"Our investigation is in the early stages and we do not know the background or circumstances that have led to this baby being separated from the mum. We don’t know the pressures the mum might have been under before she gave birth or in the time afterwards, but our priority is to find answers, and to make sure the mum is safe.
"We know that this 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.
"We will do everything we can to help the mum. Trained officers are ready to support her, no matter what the circumstances are, please contact us."
Ms Whalley told reporters at the press conference at GMP HQ in Manchester that a post-mortem examination of a child, which includes more procedures including a full skeletal survey, has still yet to take place.
This will now be carried out next week with the results expected on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Until then police could not give details about the sex or ethnicity of the child or cause of death.
Ms Whalley said: “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 said the dog walker, a woman, found the baby and made a call to a relative first “out of sheer shock” before then immediately calling police, at around 12.22pm on Wednesday.
She said police had recovered some fabric material with the baby, but gave no further details on that, but said detectives are now working with soil experts, archaeologists and anthropologists to try to establish how long the child’s body had been there before it was found.
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 say they will be carrying out a full search of the area around where the baby was found and this will carry on into next week.
A number of locals have left tributes to the unnamed child on Cleggs Lane including flowers, teddy bears, and messages.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting log 1319 of 20/11/24. If you would prefer to remain anonymous, call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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