Safia Ihmadei: Nurse accused of baby kidnap plot ‘had told husband she was pregnant’

A student nurse accused of attempting to kidnap a premature baby had duped her husband into believing she had given birth to twins weeks earlier, a court heard.

After allegedly faking the pregnancy, Safia Ihmadei was then said to have claimed that one of the infants had died but became “increasingly desperate” as she still “needed to produce a baby”.

She repeatedly entered the neonatal unit at a hospital where she was working on a placement and then befriended a baby’s mum, jurors were told.

Ihmadei, 36, then attempted to snatch the newborn after entering the ward at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton in her student nurse’s uniform, which was covered by a coat, the court heard.

Seamran Sidhu, prosecuting, said the defendant had separated from her first husband and went on to marry again, but the couple struggled to conceive.

Ihmadei told her second husband she was pregnant with twins and was due to give birth in December last year, it is alleged.

Ms Sidhu said: “December came and no babies arrived. That’s because she was not pregnant.”

The Wolverhampton University student then lied to her husband, saying she had given birth in mid to late January, but she claimed one twin had died as it had been starved of oxygen, it is claimed. Ihmadei had allegedly “scouted out” babies during multiple trips to the neonatal ward while wearing her student nurse’s uniform, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

She plotted to kidnap the newborn after taking a particular interest in the baby and quizzing the mother on their racial heritage, jurors heard.

As part of her placement, Ihmadei was not working in the maternity ward. Nurses on the unit repeatedly warned her not to visit after confronting her, prosecutors said.

The defendant told one nurse she was “just passing by” after visiting the resources department. But Ms Sidhu said: “That department was on the other side of the hospital, so she would not have been just passing by.”

Ihmadei was suspended by her university and told not to go to the hospital once concerns were raised with the police, the court was told. However, just hours later, she returned to the ward and was arrested.

When police searched her, they found she was carrying baby clothes and a comforter. More baby clothes – still with their shopping tags on – a passport and £1,500 cash were found in her car.

Ms Sidhu said: “The prosecution says she was not just being friendly to the baby’s mum. She was not just visiting the baby to bring blankets and be kind.

“She may have wanted to dupe her husband and others into believing she was pregnant. She needed to produce a baby somehow.”

In a police interview, Ihmadei, from Wolverhampton, confirmed she had spoken to the baby’s mother for about 30 minutes, discussing their backgrounds and family.

But she said the mother had complained that her baby was cold, so she wanted to give her a “gift” containing blankets.

She said she had no intention of kidnapping the baby and was just being friendly.

Ihmadei denies attempting to kidnap a child between February 12 and 14. The trial continues.