Newborn baby dumped in London is sibling of abandoned babies: Court
Baby Elsa, less than an hour old, was found in the East Ham area on January 18. (Representative)
London:
A newborn baby dumped in icy conditions in London earlier this year has two siblings who were abandoned in similar circumstances in previous years, a court has been told.
The baby, named Baby Elsa by hospital staff, was found wrapped in a towel inside a shopping bag in east London in January by a dog walker, who alerted emergency services.
DNA testing has revealed she has a brother and sister, known as Baby Harry and Baby Roman, who were discovered in the same area of the UK capital in 2017 and 2019.
The children’s parents have not yet been identified and London’s Metropolitan Police are working to ascertain their identities.
On Monday, a family court judge approved the release of case details, lifting the strict reporting restrictions normally applied to minors and family matters in the interest of the “openness of justice.”
“There is clearly a public interest in reporting this story,” Judge Carol Atkinson said in granting an application by two British media organisations to report on the relationship between the three siblings.
“The abandonment of a child is a very unusual occurrence in this country and for many years no child has been abandoned, and for that reason the story of the child being abandoned is of public interest.”
Elsa is believed to have been less than an hour old when she was found abandoned in the East Ham area on January 18.
His sister, baby Roman, was found in similar circumstances in a play area in Newham in late January 2019, when it was cold and snowing in the capital.
Meanwhile, in September 2017, baby Harry was found wrapped in a white blanket in Plaistow.
Harry and Roman (not their real names) have been adopted, while Elsa’s future care has yet to be finalised.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)