Burial fear for lost baby

A PREMATURE newborn baby whose body was lost from a crematorium is feared to have been buried or cremated with an adult. The parents of Chelsea Dowding, who died two hours after birth, were told her body had been lost last week after they contacted a Bristol firm of undertakers before her funeral.

Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement yesterday that the premises of undertakers HG Harris had been searched but no trace of the child's body found.

"We have found nothing to suggest that any criminal offences have been committed," the statement added. Chelsea's twin brother, Curtis, who survived after they were born 12 weeks premature was "satisfactory".The twins were born 12 days ago to their Bristol-based parents, Sarah and Jonathan, at a hospital in Taunton, Somerset. Chelsea's body was moved to St Michael's Hospital in Bristol for a post-mortem and from there to the undertakers.

A police source, who declined to be named, said: "It weighed no more than a bag of sugar and was about 12 inches in length."

A spokesman for Harris said the matter was in police hands.