Teenager left haunted by harrowing blood-soaked baby she found at bus stop
She screamed hysterically, and at first her dad thought she was playing a prank
Jessica Walford
Sign up to FREE daily email alerts from BirminghamLive - Black Country
A Midlands teenager has spoken out over the horrifying moment she discovered a blood-covered baby at a bus stop - ABANDONED.
Talitha Beales was driving back to the West Midlands, where she lives in Staffordshire, when the harrowing incident unfolded in front of her.
On July 11, 2017, the former Thistley Hough Academy student was just driving with her dad Daniel Braxton.
But things took a turn for the dramatic when she spotted something looking strange and out of place in a bus shelter.
Incredibly, it turned out to be a newborn baby.
She screamed hysterically, and at first her dad thought she was playing a prank.
Talitha Beales (left), her dad Daniel Braxton and partner Toni Pickford rushed to help after seeing the baby girl
Two years on from that fateful day, 19-year-old Talitha told our sister paper Wales Online : "I remember every second.
"It's still raw in my mind.
"As dad drove past the bus stop, I saw the baby covered in blood, it still had the umbilical cord attached and I thought it was dead.
"My dad didn't believe me at first.
"He thought it was a prank.
"But we rang the ambulance and we heard her cries.
"She was taking her last breaths.
"I didn't know what to think.
"It's crazy.
"You don't expect to find a baby in a bus stop."
Children watch on horrified as FIVE huskies 'rip ducks to shreds' at Midlands beauty spot
Because Talitha was so distraught, it fell to her and her dad to try to save the baby's life as they waited for the emergency services to arrive. When they did, police sealed off the area.
Forensics officers dusted the bus shelter down while a makeshift interview room was set up in a caravan close to the scene, with a police helicopter scrambled to the area.
'I'll miss his smile the most' - Heartbreaking tributes to tragic dad-of-two killed in horror crash
It is understood the baby girl was left in the bus stop some time between 6am and 7.15am.
Efforts to find the mother began, but was called off a few months later after what was described as a 'painstaking and meticulous' investigation.
Police and social workers from Conwy Council then concentrated their efforts on planning for the baby's future with a new family.
Today, little is known about the baby and what happened to her. But it's thought she was placed into foster care.
What frustrates Talitha the most is not being told what happened to the baby, whose life she may well have saved.
Talitha Beales
She said: "The worst thing that annoys me is I haven't heard anything since it happened.
"I practically saved her life.
"It's horrible."
Now Talitha, who was on her way home to Stoke-on-Trent after spending time with her dad in Wales, hopes to become a veterinary assistant and says the experience has made her 'grateful'.
"It's stuck with me a lot," she said of the discovery in Towyn, Conwy.
"It made me grateful that we were there at the time. "She would have passed away, but we were there at the right time at the right place."
The baby girl found on the floor of a bus stop
Speaking at the time, Daniel said: "She (the baby) was a fair size, I'd say probably around the seven pound mark.
"She was not tiny, but definitely newborn as she still had the umbilical cord on.
"I gave her a few hard rubs on her chest to see if there was any life in her, and at that point she gave a big gasp and opened her eyes."
Costco family FINED over spending 'too long' doing weekly shop
He added: "As I waited for the ambulance I was just cuddling her, telling her everything was going to be all right.
"Not that she could understand me, but I just thought she need to hear a comforting voice."
WalsallTributes pour in for Walsall hit and run victimRobert Davis was hit in Bescot Crescent on January 14, he later died in hospital
TiptonWatch - shocking 80mph police chase through Tipton - rider got suspended sentenceOwen Guest was given a two-year driving ban after the 80mph police chase