Abbie lost weight during kidnap

THE KIDNAPPED baby Abbie Humphries had lost almost a pound in weight when she was found 16 days after her abduction, her mother revealed yesterday.

Karen Humphries, 32, a former midwife, said babies were expected to lose up to 10 per cent of their weight in the four days after being born. But by the 16th day it should have been more than regained. Abbie weighed 8lb 3oz when she was found - 13oz under her 9lb birth weight.

She was stolen from the care of her father Roger, 33, a decorating supervisor, four hours after she was born at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, on 1 July. Julie Kelley, 22, from Wollaton, Nottingham, who has admitted the kidnapping, has claimed she 'looked after the baby to the best of her ability'.

But Mrs Humphries tells the Daily Mirror today: 'Everyone has said about how the woman who took Abbie had cared for her and looked after her, but in my opinion she didn't know what she was doing. Her eyes were all gummed up and sticky as well.

'Abbie was 16 days old when she was rescued. I would have expected her to be well beyond her birth weight. I would be very concerned with a baby losing weight like that.'

The baby put on seven ounces in the three days after her return, Mrs Humphries added. 'She's fine. She is very contented. She's feeding well and sleeping . . . There are no problems at all. She's behaving herself really well and piling the weight on.'

For Mrs Humphries, tiredness and a fear of being alone were the main legacy of the two-week ordeal. But she was trying not to think about it. 'Perhaps I will in future, but at the moment we are just living day to day.

'We are never, ever going to say life is boring ever again. It would be nice to get back to being very boring. You just don't think that things like this are ever going to happen to anyone you know, never mind yourself.'

The couple, from Sherwood, Nottinghamshire, added their thanks for the thousands of supportive letters sent to them.