THE mother of a baby which was found dead in a wheelie bin in Richmond has been urged to contact emergency services.

The newborn baby girl was found in a bin in the Whitcliffe Grange estate on Monday afternoon, leading to a lengthy search by North Yorkshire Police and forensic experts.

Speaking yesterday outside Darlington Memorial Hospital, head of midwifery Ann Holt said the mother of the baby could be suffering from a serious illness, and urged her to come forward.

She said: "Our message is for mum to come forward for the serious medical complications that might occur following this kind of delivery, like bleeding and infection, but also from the point of view that we have a baby here without her mum.

"We would like to reunite the mum with her baby in our hospital. The mother may be feeling that she is on her own and things are really bad, but the midwives have dealt with this sort of situation before, aren't going to be judgmental and are really concerned about her health, both physical and mental."

The senior midwife said authorities did not know the circumstances around the incident, but previous similar incidents suggested it could be a younger woman.

She said: "Sometimes it is not that the person is bad, it's that they are very frightened and afraid and don't know where to go for help and it's in a panic that these things happen.

"Then they have to live with it, so we are urging her to come forward so she can come to terms with the traumatic experience that she has been through."

Anyone with information which could help indentify the woman should phone North Yorkshire Police on 101.