A newborn baby found dead in a small patch of woodland could have been alive when she was rolled down a steep rock face into bushes, police have said.
Officers said today they believe the abandoned infant may be the product of rape or incest.
Baby Pearl was discovered covered in bite marks from foxes and dogs just after 7am on April 4 in a small tract of land known locally as Bluebell Forest.
The child was found just 500 yards from a housing estate in Heywood near Rochdale, Greater
Manchester.
Detectives named the poor child Pearl, meaning precious, because they felt it was important for her to have an identity after such a short, harsh life.
Speaking to press, Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Hughes said: 'I can only hope [Pearl] wasn't alive at the point she was left here. The alternative doesn't really bear thinking about.'
'We believe the mother may be somebody in distress,' he added.
'Whoever left Pearl here was someone with no emotional attachment for that baby. There was not a scrap of clothing on her.
His team now believe the tiny tot was carried up a hill in the Roch Valley Woods then rolled down a steep rock face into bushes. Police were forced to abseil down to retrieve the newborn's body.
A relative of the woman whose dog found the body said the woman 'has not stopped crying since.'
'It was an horrific sight. Something nobody should ever have to see,' they added.