Hospital says sorry over baby snatch bid

Health bosses today apologised to a mother after a woman tried to snatch her baby from a hospital ward.

The incident happened on Tuesday morning at Lincoln County Hospital after the woman tried to abduct nine-month-old Ethan Rawson while his mother Alice was in an adjacent room.

At first Ms Rawson, 25, of Lincoln, thought a nurse had picked up her son and only realised he was being abducted when she saw the woman walk out of the room with him in her arms.

Ms Rawson told the Lincolnshire Echo: "I heard someone walk in and I presumed it was a nurse.

"I turned round to see a lady who had got Ethan out of his cot and was walking out of the room."

Ms Rawson then took her son back without incident.

Today, a spokeswoman for the hospital apologised.

She said: "We apologise for any distress caused by the incident. We have quite strict procedures and she couldn't have got out because you have to be buzzed out of the ward by a member of staff.

"Obviously we are looking into it to see if any lessons can be learnt and we are continuing to update our security."