Girl, 2, found cold and alone in street

Toddler in pyjamas was ‘bruised and scratched’

AN i nvestigation has been launched after a toddler was found alone in the street wearing only pyjamas and one shoe.

The young girl, believed to be aged between 18 months and two years old, was discovered on a housing estate street corner, where residents said she was ‘shaking’.

She had a bruised and scratched face when she was spotted by a passer- by at around 2pm yesterday in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire.

The little girl was wearing a thin pair of pink and grey Adidas pyjamas and one black boot with no socks.

It was more than two hours after she was found that police were a bl e to trace her grandparents.

The girl was checked over by paramedics before being taken to the nearby Forth Valley Royal Hospital. Forensic officers were later seen searching bushes and underneath a car close to where the youngster was found.

They also carried out a fingertip search in a nearby front garden.

Local resident Linda Rae, 31, said that the youngster had one bare foot and bruising on her face.

The mother-of-one said: ‘The police asked me to go and have a look at her to see if we knew who she was. When I went in she was just cuddling into the paramedic.

‘She looked so cold. She just had on these thin wee pink pyjamas and one boot. Her other f oot was completely bare.

‘She had bruises on her face, a black eye and a scratch. It was just really sad. She just looked so small and cold.’

Miss Rae added: ‘ I can’t believe that she was j ust out. You’d notice if your kid wasn’t there. I have a tenmonth- old and I’d never let him out my sight.’

One woman, who also saw the little girl and asked not to be i dentified, said: ‘ She j ust looked so little and cold.

‘When I saw her she was just sitting and shivering.

‘She looked so small in the wee pink clothes.

‘Its freezing out here for me, so it must have been horrible for her.

‘I can’t imagine what was going through her wee mind if she was lost.

‘Her hair was all over the place and she had a bruised face with a wee black eye.’

Another local, who asked not to be named, said: ‘She was just so tiny. I don’t understand how she could just be out there by herself. It’s so cold and she was j ust wearing the wee pyjamas.

‘I just can’t believe anyone couldn’t notice their wee one was out.’

The corner where the young girl was f ound r emained cordoned off last night and police kept a presence in the area.

Chief I nspector Mandy Paterson of Police Scotland said: ‘The little girl was noticed by a concerned passer-by, who then called the police when he realised that she was on her own.’

Despite tracing the youngster’s grandparents, Police Scotland said that enquiries surrounding the incident were still ongoing.

A statement from the force said yesterday: ‘Enquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances, but officers would like to thank the public for their assistance in this matter.’

‘She was just

so tiny’