Mother of dumped girl ‘may have been raped’

THE mother who gave birth to a baby girl whose body was found in woodland may have been the victim of rape or incest, police say. The newborn, who was abandoned with no blanket or shawl, had been rolled down a rock-face into some undergrowth. Her body was covered in bite marks from foxes and dogs, detectives said.

The baby, whom officers have named Pearl because they ‘consider her precious’, was found by a dog-walker on April 4 outside Heywood, Greater Manchester.

Police believe she had been carried up a hill in the woods, known as Bluebell Forest, then rolled down the rock-face into the bushes below.

It is not known whether she was alive when she was dumped. Part of her umbilical cord was

‘Hasn’t stopped crying since’

still attached, with signs the rest had been severed roughly. The woman who found Pearl’s body ‘hasn’t stopped crying since’, a relative said yesterday.

Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Hughes, of Greater Manchester Police, said officers had not established how she died but potential DNA matches have been found.

He told the Sunday Times that whoever dumped Pearl was likely to be ‘someone in distress’.

Police have appealed for the mother to come forward.

Amy McKee, a criminal psychologist, said such cases were rare because the mother must have concealed her pregnancy right up until birth.

Before police stopped recording the crime of abandoning a baby in 2012 there were around 50 cases a year.