Detectives are searching for a woman thought to have snatched her baby from social workers outside a hospital in Liverpool.

Rahquille Anthony Hines, who is seven months old, was abducted from the car park of the Alder Hey Hospital in West Derby at about 1600 GMT on Wednesday.

Merseyside police say they want to contact the baby's natural mother, 26-year-old Sonia Graham.

Rahquille, who is in the care of Liverpool Social Services, was being taken back to his foster family following a routine check-up.

Aliases

Efforts to find the mother have so far proved fruitless.

It is understood that Ms Graham, who also uses the names McGuffie and Hines, travelled to the hospital with two social workers as part of a routine access visit.

Rahquille was in good health, suffering only normal teething problems, but police and social workers are concerned for his safety and that of her mother.

Ms Graham is black, five foot tall, with dark hair tied at the back. She was last seen wearing a black PVC coat and black boots.

The baby was wearing a red cardigan and matching hat at the time of the abduction.