A baby girl found in a Boots shopping bag is to be adopted after two of her siblings were also abandoned in recent years.
Three children, known as Harry, Roman and Elsa, were discovered in the same area of east London in 2017, 2019 and 2024 respectively.
They were all found to be siblings and, despite a major police effort, the parents have never been tracked down.
The Metropolitan Police has since said that their enquiries have been ‘exhausted’, but reiterated a plea for anyone with information to come forward.
Elsa has been with foster carers since being discovered by a dog walker in a shopping bag in Newham on January 18, 2024, while Harry and Roman – not their real names – have been adopted.
At East London Family Court on Thursday, a judge ruled that Elsa should remain with those currently caring for her, which would ‘pave the way’ for them to apply to adopt her.
Judge Carol Atkinson said Elsa’s story was ‘quite extraordinary’, noting that only eight children had been registered as abandoned in England and Wales between 2008 and 2018.
She said: ‘Elsa is a beautiful little girl, a raucous bundle of excitement and laughter.
Police image of the Boots bag in which Baby Elsa was found by a dogwalker in Newham, east London, in January 2024.
Baby Harry was found wrapped in a white blanket in a bush in 2017 in Plaistow, east London.
Baby Roman was found in freezing temperatures in January 2019, wrapped in a white towel in a shopping bag in Newham, east London.
‘I am pleased to have seen photos of her. I know from reports that she lights up the space around her.
‘She is happy and settled in her new family, as yet unaware of how she differs from other children.’
She continued: ‘Her best chance in life comes with a permanent placement in an alternative family.’
She also said: ‘These siblings share something quite extraordinary.
‘No one that they will meet in life is likely to understand what it is like to be a foundling, but they each know and understand.’
Elsa was believed to be just an hour old when she was found wrapped in a towel in a reusable shopping bag at the junction of Greenway and High Street South in East Ham, east London.
Hospital staff named her Elsa after the character in Disney film Frozen because of the sub-zero conditions she was found in.
Harry was found in September 2017, wrapped in a white blanket in Balaam Street, Plaistow.
Roman, meanwhile, was discovered in a play area off Roman Road, Newham, in late January 2019 – just as freezing temperatures and snow gripped the city.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said the Met felt they were close to finding the parents several times
Kate Claxton, for Newham Council, said in a written submission to the court that the siblings would be given contact with each other as they grew up through play dates, as well as letters.
Police efforts to locate the mother of the children has involved establishing a full DNA profile, reviewing hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, and offering a £20,000 reward for three months in 2025.
Last year, their search narrowed to 400 homes from where investigators believed the person who dropped off the children could have travelled – though this was not necessarily the mother.
But this proved unsuccessful, with officers warning they ‘cannot discount’ a fourth child being discovered at some point.
Police believe the infants were abandoned near the Greenway, a footpath in Newham built over a sewage pipe, because there was no CCTV there.
Detective Inspector Jamie Humm said, the case’s senior investigating officer, said: ‘How can you have the most surveilled city in the world and someone drop three babies off without being identified?
‘It was chosen, I would argue, as a fairly optimum location of making sure the babies were found relatively promptly whilst also giving the mum the most opportunity for a covert entrance and exit.
‘It is a footpath – there are no shops, there was no dash cam footage from passing traffic, no doorbell camera.
‘So, from that point in your investigation, you are effectively looking for a ghost, someone who’s been and gone without ever having left a trace.’
Speaking last May, Detective Humm said he believed the mother ‘is vulnerable, is in danger, and is in a position where they feel that they are unable to come forward for whatever reason’.
On Thursday, Judge Atkinson said the way in which Elsa was abandoned had caused her ‘significant physical harm’, but said police had been ‘tenacious’ and ‘tireless’ in their efforts to find the parents.
Detective superintendent Lewis Basford, of the Metropolitan Police, said: ‘This remains one of the most unique investigations we have worked on.
‘It has recently involved the investigation team speaking with hundreds of members of the public and travelling across the country to contact possible relatives.
‘This familial DNA work has been complex and involved identifying potential matches to the DNA of the three children, before exploring all of that person’s family structure.
‘At this stage, this latest phase of enquiries has not resulted in us identifying the biological parents of the three children.
‘While this has been disappointing, the lengths we have gone to have proven the team’s dedication to safeguarding children and ensuring the welfare of the mother.
‘This remains our priority, and we will continue to review all information and intelligence made available to us to establish whether a new phase of the investigation can be launched.
‘At this stage, our enquiries are exhausted, but I continue to urge anyone who may be sitting on information to contact us.’