MURDER PROBE BABY NAMED
TRIBUTES AS TWO-WEEK-OLD BABY AT CENTRE OF MURDER PROBE IS NAMED
A baby girl at the centre of a murder investigation has been named as Felicity May Harvey.
Two-week-old Felicity died in hospital on Monday.
She was taken to hospital by paramedics on Friday after the ambulance service was called to an address on Stirling Place, Heywood, at 2.34pm that day. Officers were called out by hospital staff who had ‘concern for a baby,’ just before 6.30pm on Friday, Greater Manchester Police said. The baby girl sadly died three days later.
A post-mortem examination is due to take place this week.
Detectives have launched a murder investigation. Enquiries are ongoing.
A man arrested on suspicion of murder has been released on bail pending further enquiries.
A spokesperson for Rochdale Coroners’ Court confirmed a file had been received regarding the child’s death. No inquest opening has yet been scheduled.
Police were still stationed at Stirling Place. A scene is expected to remain in place for the coming days.
A banner emblazoned with the words ‘baby girl’ was fixed to the front door of a house. Floral tributes were also left at the scene.
One note left with a bouquet of flowers reads: “Sleep well little one. Fly high with the angels.”
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, told the M.E.N.: “She has a baby banner on the door, saying ‘baby born.’
“It’s very sad. I think ‘how is the mother feeling?’ It’s horrible.”
“The mother is a nice woman, she would sometimes say ‘hello.’ It’s not nice news. I can’t imagine how she feels now. I heard about what happened from the newspaper. [Police] just asked what we saw. I was in shock.”
Another neighbour, Pawel Pluskota, 44, said: “I feel so bad about it, it’s heartbreaking. It’s devastating for everybody. We have two kids ourselves.”
A North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We attended an address on Stirling Place after a call at 2.34pm and took one patient to hospital.”
Detective Chief Inspector Carl Jones, of Greater Manchester Police’s Major Incident Team, urged anyone with information to come forward. He said: “This is a desperately sad incident where a baby girl has lost her life and we are doing what we can to support her loved ones at this incredibly difficult time. Our investigation is ongoing; as always, we are keeping an open mind and have specialist officers working at the scene and on the investigation to establish the full facts of this case.”
He added: “Anyone with information should do the right thing and contact us with information so we can continue to try and ascertain the circumstances behind this tragedy.”
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 3400, quoting incident 1896 of January 8 – or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.