Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Psting in AIBU for traffic - Bristol mum and newborn have gone missing, please keep your eyes open if in bristol!

388 replies

KnitFastDieWarm · 03/12/2014 12:01

Apologies for posting here but the Avon and Somerset police are running an urgent appeal for the safe return of Bristol mum Charlotte Bevan and her four day old baby, who have gone missing from a central Bristol maternity unit and haven't been seen for over 12 hours. PLEASE keep an eye out for her and phone the police if you see her - she's white, around 5'8, dark hair, wearing a black top, black trousers and hospital slippers or flip flops. Her baby is wrapped in a stripey blanket.

Hoping and praying for a safe return sad

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/03/mother-baby-missing-bristol-maternity-hospital

OP posts:
TimelyNameChangey · 04/12/2014 01:53

Well it can't have...and she walked out with no problems. I don't think it would be hard to do that in a busy hospital and no tag.

I just think it very odd that nobody noticed a woman in slippers walking in the city with a newborn baby in a blanket in her arms. No coat...you'd notice!

NewNamePlease · 04/12/2014 01:57

She was being checked on every half hour but unless they sectioned her they couldn't have kept her in the hospital. And people do leave hospitals all the time in slippers, to jump in a car, have a fag or just to get some air. I left a hosp in slippers as I had gone to hosp in slippers. Some people are being really harsh on the nurses but they probably hadn't even been treating her and see hundreds of people coming and going everyday.

timely how many people would even have known she was missing whilst she was walking the mile and a half? I didn't hear about this until this morning. People out and about probably hadn't watched/ listened to the news so weren't looking for her. Nothing "odd" in that.

Poopooplop · 04/12/2014 02:01

The tags often slip off though, or sometimes aren't activated properly.

Poor poor woman, I can't stop thinking about her. I also can't stop worrying for her family and how must the midwives be feeling? They must feel awful and be dreading the news we're getting now.

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 04/12/2014 02:05

I drove past there with DD at about the time she would have left. It was very quiet, not really anyone around. It doesn't sound like she still had her daughter with her by the time she got to the gorge. There are many very quiet parts to the gorge and it would be pretty easy to get to them unnoticed. Incredibly sad for all involved.

TimelyNameChangey · 04/12/2014 02:11

Well why do you say it doesn't sound like the baby was with her by the time she got to the Groge?

Redglitter · 04/12/2014 02:11

Would anyone really think someone walking about in slippers was particularly odd. With the bizarre trend of people going out in their pyjamas these days pretty much anything goes. Since no one knows where the poor baby is it could be she was walking alone most of the time & didnt attract any attention to herself.

It's such a sad case especially when you hear her poor partner talking about the 2 wonderful days they had as a family. He obviously wasn't aware of anything.

I hope they find the baby soon

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 04/12/2014 02:13

Because they cordoned off a road by the hospitalization and removed a wheelie bin for forensic testing. Horribly sad.

Redglitter · 04/12/2014 02:16

And they also said that absolutely nothing had been found in it and the area was reopened shortly afterwards.

Wellwellwell3holesintheground · 04/12/2014 02:18

Ah. Didn't see that. Sorry. So hope her baby is OK.

ChippingInAutumnLover · 04/12/2014 02:50

What sad news, her poor family :(

She has been badly let down by someone who should have been caring for her. If she was being checked on every half an hour, she shouldn't have been able to leave so easily, and certainly not with her baby. We need to protect vulnerable people better than this :(

missknows · 04/12/2014 02:54

It was a horrible enough search as it was but if this is confirmed to be Charlotte it's going to be just horrendous now looking for that tiny baby.

I gave birth at the same hospital this year and babies were not tagged. It is a very large hospital and wards have many rooms with a few beds in each and some individual. The bathrooms are down the corridors and there are communal dining rooms to go and help yourself to food whenever you want. The nursery areas are quite a way from some rooms too so women walking around the corridors was perfectly common and expected. As you only have to be buzzed into the ward and not out it's easy to see how she left without anyone realising.

Inlimbo1982 · 04/12/2014 03:20

Very very sad if this is Charlotte. I feel angry that there doesn't seen to be much help for people having problems with the mind . Tragic that people feel alone and scared. I hope her baby is ok

sophielouise · 04/12/2014 03:35

Even if the baby had been tagged I think you can just unpin them yourself. I remember at Nottingham hospital the tags are just safety-pinned onto the baby's clothing. How very sad this story is.

Poopooplop · 04/12/2014 04:08

Some tags alarm of you tamper with them.

She was getting help for her problems though. The baby was 4 days old, and mum was being checked on every 30 minutes, which suggests that they knew she was at risk of something. But you've got to think, the midwife could be looking after several other women and their babies, all of whom could also be having problems. You can't watch someone 24/7 in these circumstances. She wasn't in prison.

Straitjacket · 04/12/2014 04:25

At Heartlands Hospital when I had DS, they put a tag on his hospital tag around his ankle with his name on (well, it said baby strait) but he was always managing to kick it off. And as said about another hospital, you have to be buzzed in but can freely walk out. I could of easily of walked out at any point I wanted during the day. Night times the main entrance to the maternity is locked down though, so no one can get in or out unless buzzed in/out.

It is very sad. I can't even begin to imagine what must of been going through her mind Sad

TimelyNameChangey · 04/12/2014 06:21

Poop that's right..it's not as though they can lock people in....

FoxSticks · 04/12/2014 06:33

It is very sad, poor baby.

In defence of Sharon, she had put something along the lines of why is everyone saying RIP when we don't know it's her. Someone else said don't get wound up about it and she replied that she wasn't. Her comment was not a stand alone one being dismissive of the sad situation but was in response to some one else.

cleanmachine · 04/12/2014 06:34

Poor lass. I cant get the image of her and her baby out of my head. What must she have been going through in them final hours?

PlanetCodeine · 04/12/2014 06:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VivaLeBeaver · 04/12/2014 07:04

Can't believe you don't need to be buzzed out the ward. Anyone could abduct a baby never mind what's happened here. Really sad.

SilentAllTheseYears · 04/12/2014 07:29

It's a long time since I had a baby, do they really put electronic tags on babies now as a matter of routine?

Bananaapplegrape · 04/12/2014 07:37

They have found a body :(

Rainicorn · 04/12/2014 07:44

Such tragic news.

Wrt the nurses at the vending machine, they had their backs to her as she walked past, so they wouldn't have noticed. They are not to blame.

I imagine after this the hospital will need to take a serious look at their security measures on the maternity ward. The hospital I had my three DC in, you have to be buzzed out two doors and past a reception desk to leave. In the footage it looks like she just pressed a button leave, not sure if it was just a release button or a buzzer.

TimelyNameChangey · 04/12/2014 07:45

Banana another one?

SagaNorensSnowflakeTrousers · 04/12/2014 07:47

Rain I feel the same about the nurses; it's unfortunate they were captured in such a way on CCTV (looking at the vending machines) that will unfairly be spun by the media as if they were neglectful or unconcerned.