00:00Good morning, my name is Superintendent Owen Rinaldin and I'm the lead for policing in Kensington and Chelsea.
00:11I'm going to give you an update today following the tragic discovery of the body of a newborn baby here yesterday afternoon.
00:20Local officers have worked through the night and continue enquiries this morning to locate the mother of the baby.
00:28We were called at 12.46pm to All Saints Church near Talbot Road following the discovery of a newborn baby in a shopping bag.
00:38This was a black Marks and Spencer's bag with pictures of avocados on the side.
00:45The bag was discovered by a council refuse worker who immediately contacted the police.
00:51Officers attended alongside colleagues from the London Ambulance Service but very sadly the baby was pronounced dead at the scene.
01:01We can now confirm that the baby was a boy and we believe that he was a newborn when he died.
01:08I want to praise the professionalism in particular of the local refuse worker and also the responding emergency services who I know will have been deeply affected by the incident yesterday.
01:23As shocking and tragic as this is, my priority remains with the mother's welfare and health.
01:32We are really worried about her wellbeing as she will have recently given birth.
01:38I know she will likely be feeling very frightened and going through an extremely difficult time.
01:47If you are the baby's mother and you see this today, I want to appeal directly to you to come forward and receive help.
01:57My priority is to help you and make sure that you can receive medical assistance.
02:03You can do this at any time by attending any hospital, police station or by calling the emergency services.
02:13I also want to appeal this morning to anyone who may have information that can assist us with our investigation.
02:20In particular if you saw anyone in this area with the Marks and Spencer's bag or saw anything that you felt was unusual.
02:28You can do this by calling 101 or making an online report quoting reference 1879 of today's date.
02:39I know the community here are concerned by what has happened and we will be continuing our close work with our partners to support local people.
02:49The neighbourhood policing teams will be remaining in this area over the coming days and we will also be available today at our regular community drop-in on Thorpe Close which is nearby.
03:01I want to end this morning by repeating my plea to the baby's mother to come forward.
03:07I want to reassure her that our main thoughts are with her wellbeing and getting her any help that she may need.
03:18Excuse me sir.
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