A woman has been charged with the abduction of baby Karli Hawthorne from a hospital in Essex.

Denise Patricia Giddings, a housewife, is due to appear before Basildon magistrates on Monday.

The new-born baby was snatched from an Essex hospital before she had been given her first feed.

The baby was recovered safe and well after a tip-off from a female member of the public led police to a house in Basildon.

Baby Karli Hawthorne was taken back to Basildon General Hospital and given a check-up before she was re-united with her parents, Tanya and Karl. The baby has suffered no side-effects and had been fed.

An Essex police spokesperson said: "She is fast asleep and seems perfectly oblivious to the whole thing."

Det Supt Reynolds: "delighted"

There had been a huge public response to a police appeal for information after a woman snatched the newborn girl from a Basildon General Hospital.

Within five hours the police received more than 300 phone calls after issuing a photofit and video image of the suspect. Five or six of the tips were considered to be promising leads.

Huge public response to photos released by police

"One of those was from a local woman who obviously had some suspicions. We acted on that and we are delighted with the result," said Mr Reynolds.

The informer told police that a woman in the neighbourhood had announced that she was pregnant. However, she had become suspicious when the baby came much earlier than expected.

Shortly after 03:00 GMT the police checked on the address and found Karli. A woman was arrested, checked by a police surgeon and pronounced to be fit to be arrested.

On Friday, a blonde woman entered the maternity unit of Basildon hospital, where Karli lay in a cot at the foot of her mother's bed, who was recovering from a Caesarean section.

The mother, Tanya Hawthorne, was still drowsy from anaesthetics three hours after the birth at 09.50 GMT. While her partner, Karl, was out of the ward telephoning members of his family, the woman grabbed the baby, and rushed out of the ward.

A patient in a nearby bed alerted hospital staff who gave chase to the woman.

Basildon hospital is fitted with security cameras

Later, detectives issued a video still from a closed circuit TV camera of a woman entering the maternity unit. Based on the video footage and witness statements the police constructed a photofit image, which was shown on national television.

Consultant Obstetrician Christopher Welch had warned that the baby, weighing 6lb 15oz, would be at risk because she had not even had her first feed. She was also still wearing a thin hospital gown on what was a cold winter's night.

Consultant Mr Welch says the kidnapper fed the baby and cared for her

However, the kidnapper seems to have fed the baby and kept her warm while she was in her care.

Earlier reports that a man driving a black Renault Laguna saloon car had helped with the kidnapping proved to be incorrect. A police spokesman said that the driver had been ruled out of the investigation.

Immediately after the baby had been snatched, police had cordoned off the area around the building. Helicopters assisted the search from overhead while officers with tracker dogs scoured the grounds.

Basildon lies to the east of London

The police put ports and airports on full alert and road blocks were set up along routes near the hospital grounds. Patrols at the Dartford Tunnel were also on alert as police fear the woman could have attempted to flee the area with the baby.

Questions raised over hospital security

Mark Purcell, a spokesman for Basildon Hospital, said the woman had "broken through" the hospital's security system: "It seems this individual got into the department somehow and snatched the baby out of the cot and before the mother could actually raise the alarm the intruder was gone."

The incident has focused attention once more on security in maternity units, which was tightened up after a number of high-profile baby-snatching incidents in the past seven years.

Alexandra Griffiths was just a few hours old when she was snatched from St Thomas's Hospital in central London in January 1990. And in July 1994, five-hour-old baby Abbie Humphries was snatched from the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre in Nottingham. Both babies were recovered after two agonising weeks.

Since that time, some hospitals have introduced measures such as tagging systems and CCTV.

Mr Welch, who is also the hospital's clinical director, said administrators had considered introducing tagging but decided against as tagging devices could be masked. "The way we organise our security is that we use our staff as our security. This lady and baby were seen leaving and were chased - she was too fast," he said.
 
Basildon General Hospital Consultant Christopher Welch talks about Karli's condition (Dur 50")

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