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Police searching for the parents of three newborn babies, all abandoned in east London minutes after their birth, say they are now focusing on about 400 nearby houses.
Baby Elsa was left in a Boots carrier bag near a footpath in Newham on 18 January 2024, before being discovered by a dog walker.
Subsequent DNA tests established she was the sibling of two other babies, a boy and a girl, each found in very similar circumstances in 2017 and 2019.
Despite police appeals, the parents of the three babies have still not been identified.
Over the last five weeks, detectives searching for the parents have given BBC News access to part of their operation.
They allowed us to follow officers going door-to-door asking residents to provide DNA samples to see if they are connected to the babies.
They are also contacting people they have found using the national DNA database who may share familial DNA with the children’s mother.
Officers who recently met Elsa told the BBC the toddler is a bright girl who is curious and engaging.
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It was on 17 September 2017, when the first baby, Harry, was found, over a mile to the west of the spot Elsa was left – just north of the Greenway, a four-mile long footpath and cycleway in Newham. He’d been left in a bush in Plaistow Park, wrapped in a towel.
Sixteen months later, his sister Roman was discovered on a bench by a dog walker in the small children’s play park, in Roman Road.
She was found on a freezing evening, at about 22:15. Roman was wrapped in a towel, inside a Sainsbury’s shopping bag.
The babies’ names were given to them by emergency staff who helped them – they have all since been changed.
DNA tests revealed that Harry and Roman were full siblings, however, that information wasn’t initially made public.
It was only when Elsa was found five years later, and the case came before the family court, that we were able to report all three babies had the same parents.
Det Insp Jamie Humm, who became the case’s senior investigating officer after Elsa was found, says “it wasn’t a huge shock” when DNA confirmed she was the sister of the other two babies.
Elsa had been abandoned just a few minutes’ walk from where Roman was found.
For the first 12 months after taking on the investigation, Det Insp Humm assumed the babies’ mother was able to contact police, but had been reluctant to do so.
His team scoured the area, knocking on doors, talking to local people, but no-one had seen or heard anything.
In January this year, the charity Crimestoppers offered a £20,000 reward for information, which also proved fruitless.
“Now my strong feeling is that [the mother is] not able to come forward,” says Det Insp Humm.
He believes the babies’ mother may be restrained in some way – or she may have mental or physical health problems.
Police have been working closely with experts from the National Crime Agency (NCA), as well as psychological and geographical profilers.
They assume the mother left the babies herself. Paediatric experts advised that in war zones, for example, mothers have given birth then “got up and walked” immediately.
Police also believe the mother knows the local area well.
She avoided CCTV cameras and witnesses, yet placed all the babies in locations where they were likely to be found quickly.
Analysis of CCTV footage led officers to rule out the mother using a car to get to the sites – instead they believe she walked along the Greenway.
There is now CCTV where Elsa was found, however, there was none in January 2024, when she was abandoned.
Det Supt Lewis Basford, who has taken on strategic oversight of the investigation, acknowledged that conventional techniques have failed to identify the parents so far.
Now, he says the Met is putting a lot of emphasis on the investigation to open up new lines of enquiry.
To do that, they’re using DNA testing, often used in homicides, in a novel way.
First, they have searched the national database to find partial matches. That throws up many thousands of names. They’ve used other information to focus on people who might be related to the parents.
Det Insp Humm and his team are focusing on about 300 names, and are planning to see them all in person.
Working with the NCA, they have also identified about 400 homes close to the eastern section of the Greenway, from where the mother could have walked with a baby and avoided CCTV.
They’re cross-referencing those addresses with information from the electoral roll and other agencies to find the most likely locations, for someone who may be connected with the parents.
In teams of two, officers knock on doors to request DNA samples. Det Sgt Laurence Dight says they generally receive a warm response. People have heard about the babies and want to help.
He says people are often happy to take the test. Some have refused, which is within their rights.
Once they have collected samples, they analyse them, and decide on the next steps.
In the local community, many are mystified. The congregation of East Ham Baptist Church brings together people from all over the world.
They regularly hold prayers for the mother and babies. Pastor George Tikum, originally from Cameroon, said it is possible that the parents are here illegally, and left the babies because they’d have a more secure life if adopted.
He says the mystery has turned many locals into amateur detectives.
“I still think the answer lies with one person coming forward and just giving those answers to Elsa and her siblings as to what happened to them and why it happened,” says Det Insp Humm.
His concern is for the babies’ mother – and any future children. Officers describe the survival of the three newborns as “miraculous” and worry a fourth child might not be so fortunate.
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Elsa is now just over one year old and is toddling and bright.
Det Insp Humm says he met her a couple of months ago, with police colleagues. She was “very curious” he says. “Very engaging. No fear.”
Hospital staff called her Elsa – found, only an hour old, on the coldest night of the year – after the character in the Disney film Frozen.
Now in foster care, Elsa has made what family court judge Carol Atkinson calls “astonishing progress”.
Det Insp Humm says when officers recently met her “everyone was struggling to keep their emotions in check”.
“The one who wasn’t was Elsa, she was just the happiest, coolest,” he said. “I think she’s going to make everyone proud – she’ll make her mum proud as well.”
