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Shop worker finds body of newborn baby wrapped in bag at neighbour's house

Dead baby
Police are investigating after a dead baby was found at a house in Doncaster on Thursday. (Reach)

A young father has described the moment he claims he found a dead baby wrapped in a bag at a neighbour's house.

Darnell Jackson, 23, said he went to the house in Rossington, Doncaster, after his partner told him she had seen the body of the dead baby at the house.

Emergency services were called to Norman Crescent, Rossington, on Thursday where the baby was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police have launched an investigation and two women, aged 17 and 45, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Discovery
Darnell Jackson said he went to the house after his partner urged him to go there following the discovery of the body. (Reach)

Jackson described how he saw the body wrapped in a bag from local supermarket Herons - where he works - while his partner Carol Hirst, 28, called police.

He said: "Carol said to me: ‘There’s a dead baby’ and that’s when she hung up.

"Carol was on the phone to the police and I had to go through the first living room and I walked through the second living room and saw the plastic Herons bag which had been removed from the freezer.

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"I just literally grabbed the bag to take a look and straight away I could tell it was a dead baby as Carol and I had just had our own baby girl so I knew there was no doubt in my mind.

"I was shocked and speechless. I work at the local supermarket Herons just across from our house and I recognised the bag immediately.

"I left then as I couldn’t stay in the house and I had a cigarette in the garden to calm my nerves. I felt physically sick and waited for the police to arrive."

His partner said she was left traumatised by what she had seen and had to go home to see her own baby.

South Yorkshire Police have urged people to avoid the area while enquiries continue.

Temporary Superintendent Jamie Henderson said: "This is an extremely tragic case and I know the local community, and those further afield, will be very upset to hear about what has happened.

"At this time, our investigation into the circumstances surrounding the baby’s death is in the very early stages and we ask the public not to speculate about the case."

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