Woman brings dead baby to clinic in paper bag

A woman turned up at a hospital in Helsingborg in western Sweden on Friday with a paper bag containing a dead baby.

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The woman, reportedly in her forties, arrived at the hospital on Friday afternoon where she told the staff that she had given birth at home in her apartment and that she believed that the baby had been stillborn.

She said she had no idea she was even pregnant.

“There may be reasons for this that we can't disclose at this point,” said police Skåne police spokesperson Göran Hassel to local paper Helsinborgs Dagbladet (HD).

Having given birth to the baby, the woman contacted a friend and together the made their way to the hospital, after placing the dead baby in the paper bag.

Due to the strange circumstances of the case the hospital has reported the matter to the police, and a full investigation will be carried out.

For the moment the investigation is classified as manslaughter.

Despite this however, no one is formally a suspect in the case and the police are not convinced a crime has taken place.

“It is still very uncertain what actually happened and if a crime has even been committed. It could quite easily simply be a very tragic incident, but a quite normal death,” said Hassel to the paper.

A death certificate has been issued and the police have conducted a forensic investigation of the woman's home, where she claimed she gave birth to the dead baby.

An autopsy will also be performed on the baby by a medical examiner, after which the police will decide on how to proceed with the case.