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Teenager who stole baby had miscarried

Jason Bennetto Crime Correspondent
Friday 17 May 2002 00:00 BST

A teenager who abducted a baby from a maternity ward had suffered a miscarriage, a court heard yesterday.

Kelly Oldnall pleaded guilty to abducting the identical twin Elizabeth Rice, who was taken from a cot at the foot of her mother's bed at Wordsley Hospital in Stourbridge, West Midlands, on 6 May.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that when the 18-year-old had lost her baby she had not sought medical help.

Oldnall, of Pensnett, Dudley, was remanded in custody pending pre-sentence reports after a seven-minute hearing.

At an earlier hearingthe teenager, a former old people's carer, was said to have walked into the hospital ward, passing a security door, without any authority. She took the two-day-old child, who was lying alongside her twin, Susannah, in a double cot, as their mother, Deanne, 32, slept. Ms Rice had been waiting for Richard, 30, her husband and the twins' father, to take them home.

The baby was discovered seven hours later by police in nearby Pensnett, after a call from a member of the public.

Oldnall, who was wearing a replica Italy soccer shirt and dark blue tracksuit bottoms, spoke yesterday only to enter her plea to taking the twin from the lawful control of her mother. She pleaded guilty to abducting a child under the age of 16 instead of the original charge of kidnap.

Anthonie Muller, for the defence, told the court his client had been receiving treatment after suffering a miscarriage.

"She became pregnant, she didn't approach the medical authorities about her pregnancy, she miscarried," Mr Muller said. "Although I am no psychiatrist, I imagine her condition is linked to this incident," he said.

Judge Hodson remanded Oldnall in custody. She is due to be sentenced in July after the preparation of probation service and psychiatric reports.

Neighbours of Oldnall said the young woman had boasted that she had given birth to a child on the day of the abduction. They claimed the teenager had said the baby was a girl weighing 4lb and had been in an incubator.

She was also said to have been seen pushing a pushchair with a baby inside up and down the road that afternoon.

Oldnall's 52-year-old boyfriend, Geoff Booth, was questioned by police and released without charge.

One neighbour, who would not be named, said: "Kelly first told me she was pregnant in about March and said she was expecting in April. She said she had had a scan and it was a girl, due in a few weeks' time.

"I was suspicious straight away because although she is a big girl, she did not look pregnant. Then on Monday at about 10.30am she ran up to me all excited and said she had had the child and was going to pick her up later.

"As soon as I heard that a baby had been abducted I thought of Kelly straight away."

A friend of Oldnall, who did not want to be named, added: "Kelly was telling everyone that she was pregnant for weeks. She told me on Monday that she had had the baby, which was premature, but I started doubting her.

"I am a mother and I know that she would not be running around in that state a few days after the birth. Then at about tea-time I saw her walking up and down a nearby street ... with a baby in a pushchair."

She continued: "Later on I was watching the television news with a friend and when we saw a baby had been snatched, we both said out loud at the same time that it was Kelly."

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