Abandoned baby found dead outside shop was mistaken for forgotten gym kit
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:23 PM on 19th March 2010
An abandoned newborn baby was found dead after being wrapped in a towel and placed outside a shop - after villagers mistook him for a gym kit.
The boy was covered in a towel in a carrier bag at the rear of the village shop.
But the shop is next to a gym - and passers-by mistook the boy for towels accidentally left behind by someone after a work-out.
A police officer stands by the lane in Cwmcarn, South Wales, where the child was found wrapped in a towel in a plastic bag
Floral tributes have been left by villagers for the baby boy
The bag was eventually checked by a 14-year-old schoolboy who called 999 - but the baby was dead when he arrived at hospital.
Police investigating the baby's death are trying to track down the mother of the baby fearing she may need medical help.
The towel in a cream-coloured Next carrier bag was first spotted at 1.15pm yesterday by a shopworker at Gurfewak Singh's Spar store at Cwmcarn, near Newport, Gwent.
He said: 'She went out and noticed the bag and asked one of our colleagues to have a look inside.
'They saw some towels and assumed someone had been in the boxing gym and had left their bag behind.'
It was at 6pm that Mr Singh's son went into the lane to talk to neighbours - and decided to look inside the bag.
Mr Singh said: 'He took the first towel off and saw the baby's head.
'He quickly rushed back into the shop and my partner and a shop assistant put the baby on top of a freezer, tried to do CPR and called 999.
The bag was eventually checked by a 14-year-old schoolboy who called 999 - but the baby was dead when he arrived at hospital
'Customers in the shop also tried to help, but I assumed the baby was already dead.
'He had been outside outside in the rain for five hours the towels were soaking wet.
'My son was so shocked, he was crying and asking me questions like: "How can someone just leave a baby like that in a bag?
'He said: "Why didn't the mother tell someone?" I haven't got any answers to give him. I just wish one of us had checked the bag properly.
'If the baby was alive then maybe we could have helped. We could have called an ambulance straight away.'
Choking back tears Mr Singh added: 'I regret it so much. I keep going back over and over it in my mind.'
An area behind the shop next to the Cwmcarn Boxing Club gym was yesterday sealed off and forensic teams were still on site.
Police today stepped up their search for the child's mother and have appealed for her to come forward.
Supt John Burley said: 'It does appear that the baby was recently born and we're obviously concerned that she needs medical attention as soon as possible.
'We're obviously looking at things that have happened in that rear lane during the day.
'We're appealing for witnesses really who saw anything suspicious.
'We've started house-to-house inquiries but really any members of the public who were around that area at that time who saw something that may have been suspicious or out of the ordinary, just give us a call.'
Two teddy bears, and floral tributes have been left at the scene by villagers.
Wales with Gwent highlighted in light green.
According to an announcement from Gwent Police, a baby boy has died after being found abandoned behind a convenience store in Gwent, Wales. The boy, who has not yet been identified, was found behind a Spar convenience store in the town of Cwmcarn at 1815 GMT on Tuesday. The baby was found to be wrapped in a towel which was in a plastic shopping bag. Bystanders who were walking past the scene mistakenly believed that the bag had been unintentionally left there by a person who had visited the gym that is located next to the store.

A 14-year-old boy, who is the son of the man who owns the convenience store, then examinied the bag and discovered the baby. He made a phone call to the emergency services, however, when the baby was taken to Royal Gwent Hospital, it was pronounced dead on arrival. The baby was younger than one day old at the time of his death. A post-mortem examination proved to be indeterminate. Gwent Police have now launched an investigation to try and determine the identity of the baby's mother.

Gursewak Singh, the father of the person who discovered the baby and the owner of the shop, explained: "We asked friends and colleagues what the bag was doing there, but it didn't belong to anyone. A boy who works with us said it was just a towel in there and he didn't open it. In the evening I went out to it and opened it, only saw a towel on top and didn't look thoroughly. I just thought it was clothes underneath and didn't want to root through them. I picked it up and hanged it on the gatepost so someone walking by might see it and recognise it as theirs. At about six o'clock there was a power cut and my 14-year-old son went out and picked up the bag and opened it and saw a little head in there. He called his uncle and said: 'It's not clothes, come and look'. They came over and saw the baby in there." Singh commented that this incident "was shocking. We were all devastated. I wish we had checked earlier. If we had gone through the bag we could have made a difference. I'm worried what sort of condition the person who left the bag is in. We are so concerned about her. Other people saw the bag, but nobody thought about it. There could be a baby still alive. I wish we had checked straight away."

Gwent Police member Superintendent John Burley stated about this case: "We are extremely concerned about the health and wellbeing of the mother of the baby and are appealing for her to come forward to receive any medical treatment she may require. This is a tragic incident which will sadden the local community and our priority at the moment is finding the mother of the baby. I would appeal to anyone who may have been in the vicinity of the Spar store on Thursday morning or afternoon who may be able to offer any information to assist our inquiry."