PRINCESS Margaret Hospital today reassured new mothers about security in its maternity unit in the wake of a baby kidnapping from a ward in the West Midlands.

The identical twin baby is back in the arms of its mother after being snatched from a ward at Wordsley Hospital in Stourbridge, West Mid-lands over the weekend, sparking a major inquiry at the hospital.

The two-day-old child was finally recovered after a huge police search resulted in the arrest of two women and a man.

The incident inevitably raises questions about the need for hospital security at Princess Margaret Hospital, which was breached last week when a thief disguised himself as a doctor and walked out of the radiology department with a £30,000 ultra-sound scanner.

The hospital's director of nursing, Elaine Strachan-Hall, spoke of her shock over the abduction.

She said: "The news of the baby abduction over the weekend made me think back to the New Year when my twin boys were born at Princess Margaret Hospital.

"I don't profess to understand what would lead a would-be abductor to take a baby but, while my heart would go out to anyone who could consider it, I would implore them to seek professional help rather than consider such traumatic actions.

"I would have been devastated if one of our babies had been taken, even for a few hours, because each of the babies is as precious as the other and the very special privilege of having twins would be utterly irreplaceable.

"While I was in hospital I was reassured by the fact that safety was of paramount importance to staff who took the security precautions extremely seriously.

"Although I was personally very aware of the need to be vigilant and not leave the babies unattended at any time, I was also grateful for the restricted access, locked nursery facilities and staff commitment to security."

Security at Princess Margaret Hospital has been stepped up and now has extensive coverage of the hospital grounds and internal corridors by high-definition CCTV cameras and it also has secure door entry systems.