Police in Co Down searching for the mother of a newborn baby whose battered body was found in a plastic bag on a lane leading to a leisure centre in the spring today launched a Christmas attempt to find her.
PSNI officers were taking the unusual step of hand-delivering more than 1,000 Christmas cards - featuring a baby angel - to homes in Carryduff, Co Down where the baby's body was discovered.
Detectives feel the days leading up to what would have been the baby's first Christmas - police named her Carrie - must be a particularly difficult time for her mother.
Despite repeated appeals and a lengthy and ongoing investigation detectives are no nearer knowing who killed the newborn baby.
Detective Chief Inspector Roy McComb who has been leading the hunt for the mother, said at a time of family reunions Carrie's mother was bound to feel the strain.
"We realise that this must be a particularly emotional time for Carrie's mum who would have been about seven months' pregnant this time last year.
"Like any mother without her child at Christmas she must find this a very distressing experience to cope with," he said.
They were appealing to the baby's mother, anybody who might know her or anyone she may have confided in to contact police.
PA