Portsmouth baby death: Police plead with mother to get help as they confirm child was a girl

The infant was found just before 6.18am on Saturday at the junction of Old Commercial Road and a Victoria Street in Buckland.

Speaking to The News today at Portsmouth Central police station, Inspector Louise Tester appealed directly to the child’s mother to get help and come forward.

It comes as police confirmed the baby was a girl, and said it was possible the mother could have concealed her pregnancy.

Addressing the mother directly, Insp Tester said: 'Please seek medical attention.

‘Please go to any doctor, any nurse, and get yourself checked out. That is our primary concern. Your health and welfare.'

Five people identified on CCTV between 5am and 6.18am in Old Commercial Road have not yet been identified.

A postmortem is being carried out today.

Insp Tester said: 'I really want to appeal to the mother of the baby to seek medical attention.

'This must be a really distressing time for her and it's really important that she sees a nurse or a doctor.

'If she doesn't know where to go, she can walk into any walk-in centre, surgery or hospital and they will look after her.

'It may be that a heavily-pregnant woman, or somebody who’s just given birth, may be of concern to neighbours or relatives.

'I'd also appeal to them to contact us if they have any concerns about anyone.

'Equally, this lady may have hidden this pregnancy. So anybody who’s got concerns about the way somebody has been acting over the last few days just let us know, it's really important that we get medical attention for this mother.

'And that's our primary concern at the moment.’

Officers have been going house to house in search of CCTV and have appealed for dash cam footage.

Detectives previously said they were ‘extremely concerned' about the girl's mother. The child was reportedly found under a blanket.

Anastasia Jamieson, 43, a beauty therapist who lives near where the girl was found, told a national newspaper help is out there for mums.

She added: ‘So we are just shocked it's happened. I saw the baby - I looked out the window. I couldn't sleep. No one knows where the mother is.’

Anyone with information should call 101 quoting Operation Cravat. Or see mipp.police.uk/operation/44HC20E02-PO1