A man and woman have been arrested after they allegedly attempted to abduct a premature child from London’s Great Ormond Street hospital.

The pair targeted the premature child after arriving at the hospital with a picture of a baby in an incubator and claimed the baby had been transferred from another London hospital.



Police are also investigating whether the couple also tried to take an infant from the Royal London hospital in a separate incident.

Officers were called on Monday afternoon by staff at Great Ormond Street who said a man and a woman had tried to gain access to a ward and take a premature infant.



The couple are alleged to have shown staff a picture of a baby in an incubator they claimed was theirs, Scotland Yard said. They said the child was born at 21 weeks old at the Royal London, in Whitechapel, east London, on 1 March, before being transferred to the neo-natal unit of Great Ormond Street, the Camden New Journal reported.



After staff searches revealed no information to match this, police were called and the 31-year-old man and 25-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit child abduction.

They were bailed and ordered not to enter a hospital unless suffering a medical emergency. The pair will appear in court in mid-April.



Insp Paul Clarke, of the Metropolitan police, said: “The actions of the staff at Great Ormond Street hospital in making all of the necessary checks and the quick response of police in arresting a couple prevented what could have been a very frightening and harrowing incident.

A spokeswoman for Great Ormond Street said: “Thankfully this type of incident is exceptionally rare. We are pleased that staff at the hospital acted so swiftly and calmly to ensure the safety of all our patients.”