Anorak

Anorak News | The Mysterious Case Of The Hull Baby Left On A Path At 3am

The Mysterious Case Of The Hull Baby Left On A Path At 3am

by | 27th, September 2011

IT’S 3am in Hull. Joel Redhead – “a student” – is 18. He spots a 17-month-old baby “abandoned in her pram“.

He tells the Sun:

“I was about to walk by the pram, but I saw a head and realised it was a baby inside. She was awake, but not crying — I just couldn’t believe my eyes. The pram was in the middle of the path. The baby was just in the pram with a black blanket over it.”

So… He pushed the pram to a friend’s home. He called the police.

The baby was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary, East Yorks. She’s fine.

Humberside Police located the child’s parents.

The story is vague. We are not told how long it took for the police to contact the parents, nor if the parents had been looking for the child.

The local paper reports:

Humberside Police appealed for the family of the baby to come forward through the media at 10am the same day, and within half an hour relatives were traced.

In place for fact, the Sun opts for emotion:

Father Dominique Minskip, parish priest of Hull’s Sacred Heart Church said… “I’m sure people will be shocked and I’m sure they will imagine this could only have been done in a situation where the parents were deeply troubled. I think people want to wish the family well.”

Father, no. There is nothing better than a story of bad parenting to make readers feel better about themselves.

The Sun then relays the words of Councillor Mary Glew, who represents the area:

“This is such a tight-knit community and people are very caring. They will be very shocked that a baby has been abandoned.”

But was it abandoned? Maybe:

A MAN of 33 appeared at Hull Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with child cruelty. He entered no plea and was bailed pending a further hearing.

Local News tells us:

The 33-year-old man spoke briefly to confirm his name, address and date of birth at Hull Magistrates’ Court yesterday afternoon. The accused, of east Hull, entered no plea to the charge of child cruelty under section one of the Children And Young Persons Act 1993.

He cannot be named, due to an order placed by Hull Magistrates’ Court, and his relationship to the child is not known. The man kept his head bowed, listening intently as his defence solicitor asked the three magistrates, chaired by Christine Tozer, to release him on bail.bDefence solicitor Gary Quantick described his client as hard-working.

He said that his client had lived with his partner for many years and they were “an extremely hard-working family”.bHe said: “My client has no previous convictions and this is a very unfortunate incident.
“There is no possibility of the child coming to any harm.”

Prosecutor Heather Levitt said the Crown had no objection to the accused being bailed, with the condition of having no unsupervised contact with the child.

Meanwhile, we wonder what a teenaged student was doing out an about at 3am and not at home swotting for his exams. Stick him in the dock and all.



Posted: 27th, September 2011 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink