Detectives from Brighton are investigating how a baby boy ended up with serious sunburn on a trip to the beach.
The officers from Sussex Police are working with social workers from Brighton and Hove City Council and Greenwich Council in London after the baby was treated in hospital in Brighton.
The baby and his mother, 29, come from Plumstead, which is in Greenwich in South-East London.
The investigation began after a member of the public stopped two police community support officers who were patrolling along Brighton seafront on Sunday.
As a result, the PCSOs ensured that the five-month-old boy was treated promptly at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
The baby was seen by a burns specialist from the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Baljit Dheansa.
The consultant said that the baby could have had life threatening injuries. He said that fortunately he was in a stable condition and had been released from hospital.
He was suffering from blistering and appeared to have 20 per cent burns when he was admitted to hospital.
But sunburn injuries can keep developing even after someone is out of the sun.
In the case of the baby boy, he ended up with 40 per cent burns.
Inspector David Derrick, of Sussex Police, praised the PCSOs who stepped in on Sunday.
He said: “The PCSOs who intervened to help this family form a critical part of neighbourhood policing in the city of Brighton and Hove.
“The actions of these officers is a clear demonstration on how neighbourhood policing identifies problems and keeps people safe.
“Within minutes of them being alerted and foreseeing the possible danger to this child they were able to take him and the mother to a safe place and arrange medical support.
“The baby was discharged from hospital last night (Tuesday 25 May).
“Detectives are now establishing the full details and working with local authority counterparts in London to consider any child protection concerns.
“The PCSOs that work in the area of the seafront work tirelessly to ensure the millions of visitors to Brighton and Hove have a safe place to visit.
“They achieve this by supporting their colleagues in preventing crime and interacting with the community at every opportunity to ensure they feel safe.”
A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: “No arrests have been made at this stage and the baby is doing fine.”
The story of the poor burnt baby is one of the most appaling I’ve heard in a while. It’s horrid. It’s wrong that I’m rejoicing that the poor little mite didn’t die. But I am. It could have been tragic.
I’m no fan of snooping and nanny stating, but Brighton may need to look at a bit of prevention here. Investigating after the fact is fine, but we need some prevention and education here. There were an alarming number of Lobster coloured folk down by the sea on Sunday. It’s bad enough when adults are burnt to buggery but kids and babies? Awful.
That could mean something with nataional government or maybe even something gimmicky with private sponsorship. But we must make the point, right down on the pebbles that excess sun is very, very bad.