'Mum' Calls Police After Baby's Body Found

A teenager has told police she is the mother of a baby found dead at a recycling plant.

The girl telephoned officers on Wednesday in a distressed state, saying she was the mother of the boy found at Bell Waste Control site in Scunthorpe.

She has been admitted to Scunthorpe General Hospital for post-natal care, a spokeswoman for Humberside Police said.

"While it is not yet clear exactly what the circumstances of this incident are, it is believed that the baby was newborn," she said.

"The teenage girl is now receiving the necessary care she requires and further inquiries into the circumstances of what happened will be made in due course."

A post-mortem examination is expected to take place later.

Bell Waste Control, where the body was found, provides waste collection and recycling services across North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.

The plant's manager Steve Kent said the worker who discovered the baby was upset and sent home.

"He was quite distressed and he immediately dropped it. We stopped the plant and went through the process with the police," he told ITV news.

"He originally thought it was a doll or a cuddly toy or something like that. He's just picked it up and it was revealed what it was."

Mr Kent said it was "disgusting" that something like this could happen and that the mood at the plant was "sombre".

"How somebody can discard a baby in that manner is just ridiculous, it's disgusting," he said.

The baby would probably have come into the plant along with commercial waste in the last two or three days, Mr Kent said, which could have come from a large area including the towns of Doncaster, Grimsby and Scunthorpe.