ALMOST a year ago today a woman was preparing to have a child.

The mother would carry that child for another week, secretly giving birth to a healthy baby boy without medical help.

Only hours later the child would be dead, strangled and unceremoniously dumped in a black bin bag in Warrington woodland.

The gruesome discovery by a man walking his dog close to Gulliver's World theme park, Callands, on March 14 shocked the town and sparked a massive murder investigation.

That tragic tot was baby Callum and nearly a year after his body was found the hunt for his killer continues.

Despite a dedicated team of more than 30 detectives working on the case, Callum's mother and the events surrounding his death have never been revealed.

Now, on the first anniversary of his death, detectives are hoping that somebody will provide new information to shed light on a case that touched the hearts of everyone in the town.

The investigation has been scaled down but the case remains on-going and police are still convinced they can find the truth behind Callum's tragic and pointless death.

Detective Sergeant Ian Hughes has been involved in the inquiry since the macabre find last March.

"At this stage we are still searching for the mother but unfortunately we have had no new leads for a while.

"The fact is that the incident remains open and when things do come in we will look into them.

"I think that we will find her and there is always a chance she will turn up as a result of our inquiries," said DS Hughes.

Officers DNA tested almost 500 women during the course of their investigation, including many of the district's school girls after leads suggested the mother would probably be a teenager.

The test failed to find a match but it will be the forensic evidence that will hold the key to eventually identifying Callum's mother.

The murder squad's inquiries followed numerous leads as information flooded in from the public.

The strongest of those was several calls to a special hot-line number from a woman claiming to be the child's mother.

Upset and emotional, she spoke anonymously to a female officer on numerous occasions but was never traced.

Added DS Hughes: "It is hard to say whether this call was from the mother.

"But what we do believe is that she must have talked to someone about what happened that day.

"I can't think that an event like that would be something that a person could forget.

"We would appeal to the mother, or someone who may know the circumstances, to contact us and help solve the mystery behind Callum's death," he said.

Officers are also anxious to identify a young woman spotted close to the scene three days before his body was found.

She is white, about 5ft 2ins tall, aged about 17, of slim build and with dark hair.

She was wearing a beige-coloured coat which appeared over-sized, a long black skirt with an orange or pink flower design and a black blouse.

Witnesses believe the girl was upset and crying before driving off from the scene in an old two-tone blue or silver car.

If you have any fresh information that may help trace Callum's mother, contact DS Hughes in confidence on 01244 613 832 or the Crimestoppers hot-line on 0800 555 111.

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