Police have arrested a 63-year-old man after a newborn baby was punched in the face at random in the middle of a Tesco supermarket by a shopper who claimed he mistook her for a toy doll.

Five-day-old Elsie Duckers was in her pram when she was approached by a man who overheard family friends saying: "Come and have a look at this beautiful baby."

As the baby's horrified mother looked on in shock, the man suddenly struck Elsie to the head before recoiling when the infant burst into tears. He then claimed he thought the baby was not real and was a toy. The infant was treated in Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester for seven hours after the incident.