Police search third house after bodies of babies are found

A woman held after the discovery of three dead babies was being questioned last night while detectives searched another of her former homes.

A woman held after the discovery of three dead babies was being questioned last night while detectives searched another of her former homes.

Ann Mahoney, 64, a former psychiatric nurse, was arrested on Tuesday six weeks after a dead baby was discovered wrapped in a bag in an attic .

A search of her present home - a different address on the Gurnos estate in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales - discovered two more bodies, wrapped in plastic.

Yesterday afternoon, detectives, who have been granted a further 36 hours to question the woman before they will have to charge or release her, widened the inquiry as they searched the third property in Crab Apple Close, on the same estate, using sniffer dogs, specially trained to search for human remains.

The latest development has prompted an unspoken fear among many on the estate that the search could lead to new discoveries.

"I am absolutely disgusted by what has happened and the fact that it is children who have been killed," said a Crab Apple Close resident who did not want to be named.

Scientific tests have so far failed to establish how the babies died. Detectives are investigating whether they could have been the result of abortions, although the first baby discovered was full term. DNA tests are also being done.

A picture has begun to emerge of the woman, a former nurse, governor of an infant school and youth football team manager. In 2001, Ms Mahoney was named "citizen of the year" locally for campaigning against antisocial behaviour. At the 3G Development Trust, a charity tackling deprivation, she helped with fundraising and fighting crime.

Ms Mahoney was at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil for 20 years until 1983 and is thought to have worked for social services. She has two daughters and a granddaughter.

A police liaison officer has been brought in to offer support to her family and they are being treated as though they have suffered a bereavement, a move which is said to be standard practice in murder inquiries such as these.

David Jarrett, a member of the local council authority, said he knew Ms Mahoney through her work as a governor at a neighbourhood school. He said she was well known locally as an active community worker who had raised cash to buy shirts for a children's soccer team.

Superintendent Trevor Morris, Merthyr's divisional commander, said: "The woman we have in custody is a well-known member of the local community who has carried out a lot of good work for many different causes," he said.

"At the moment she is helping us with our inquiries, and we are working hard to find the truth about what exactly has happened.

"There are more than 20 officers on the case, and working with the community, who are having to come to terms with the shock of this incident."

Detective Superintendent Paul Kemp, the senior investigating officer in the case, appealed for calm. He said: "At this stage, we are not directly linking anyone else with the inquiry and we appeal for the local community to remain calm while the investigation continues.

"The woman is in custody at Merthyr police station where she is being questioned in connection with all three discoveries, which as yet are unexplained."

The family who found the first baby, after tracing the source of a disgusting smell, are having to be counselled, social workers said.

Their house, Ms Mahoney's house and the house in Crab Apple Close remain sealed off while police continue their investigation.