ALERT MEDICS TRAP ‘CHILD SNATCHERS’
Couple arrested at top hospital ABANDONED FOR A BET
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POLICE have arrested a man and a woman after they allegedly tried to snatch a baby from a top children’s hospital.
The couple tried to trick staff by pretending they were picking up their infant, who was due to be discharged, it is claimed.
But alarm bells rang when the pair produced a picture of their baby that seemed to have been printed from the internet.
They claimed that their child had been born prematurely at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel nine days ago.
They insisted the baby had then been rushed to specialists at Great Ormond Street, above, but had since recovered. At once, medics at GOSH rang colleagues at the Royal London to check out the pair’s tale.
Staff then managed to call police and they were arrested before they could flee from the hospital. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said last night that a 31-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman had been quizzed on suspicion of conspiracy to commit child abduction.
They have been bailed to a date in mid-April.
It is feared that the couple also tried a similar scam just days earlier at the Royal London Hospital.
Officers revealed that a man and woman matching their description asked about a baby at the east London hospital last Friday.
A spokeswoman for Great Ormond Street said: “Thankfully this type of incident is exceptionally rare.
“We are pleased that staff at the hospital acted so swiftly and calmly to ensure the safety of all our patients.” ®