Newborn found in plastic bag

POLICE have appealed for the mother of a baby girl to come forward after the newborn was abandoned in a plastic bag in a street.

The baby, believed to be between one and five days old, was found wrapped in a blanket inside a carrier bag outside a house in Stotfold in Hitchin, Bedfordshire.

She was discovered when the owner of the house in Kipling Crescent was locking up for the evening at about 9pm yesterday.

The baby, who is fit and well and has dark hair, was taken to Lister Hospital where she was cared for overnight, a Bedfordshire Police spokeswoman said.

Staff at the hospital have given the baby the name Isabella Ward, the spokeswoman added.