Police search for newborn baby after woman's body found

British police investigating the disappearance of new mother Charlotte Bevan and her baby daughter are searching the area in Avon where a woman's body was discovered last night.

Ms Bevan, 30, vanished from Bristol Maternity Hospital on Tuesday with her four-day-old daughter, Zaani Tiana.

Avon and Somerset Police discovered an adult body in nearby Avon Gorge. Formal identification is due to be carried out.

Police said the search for baby Zaani "is still continuing".

A spokesman said: "We are searching in the same area along with police dogs from South Wales Police. We are only searching in that area."

CCTV footage showed Ms Bevan leaving the hospital coatless and carrying Zaani wrapped in just a blanket.

Pascal Malbrouck, Ms Bevan's boyfriend and Zaani's father, had issued a heartfelt plea for her to "please come back".

Speaking at a press conference, he said: "Charlotte, please come back, you're welcome any time. The last two days as a family was amazing and I really want to do that for much longer. I'm waiting for you."

Her mother, Rachel Fortune, also appealed for her daughter to get in touch, telling her: "We all really enjoyed seeing you be such a good mother. Let's go forward with that. Please get in touch.

"We all love you. Just get in touch, please get in touch."

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Crisp said Ms Bevan had been making "great progress" and was due to be discharged from hospital in a day or two.

But she shocked staff by walking out and not telling anyone where she was going.

She left hospital without a coat or shoes, wearing just a pair of hospital slippers, a long black top and black trousers.

Friends described Ms Bevan as part of a "happy couple" and said her disappearance was totally "out of character".

Hours before she went missing, Ms Bevan posted a self-help video on her Facebook page called Get Through Positive And Negative Thinking Rough Patches.

But earlier this month she had posted happy pictures of herself with her baby bump on the social networking site, where she also described herself as a "free spirit".

Describing herself, she wrote: "I am free open-minded individual I love music, art, dancing and making clothes. I'm a free spirit open minded and individual I appreciate people for who they are kind or nasty they all need love."

Isaac McCardle, a friend of the couple, told of the fraught hunt to find Ms Bevan and Zaani Tiana.

Writing on Avon and Somerset Police's Facebook page, he said: "This is out of character.

"I was out on the streets with a friend for over three hours and searched almost every road, park, alleyway etc in the area as well as high streets and found nothing."

He described Ms Bevan and Mr Malbrouck as "a happy couple".