POLICE smashed their way into a car parked outside a Dudley hospital fearing a sick baby was locked inside - only to find the "infant" was a doll.

The baby doll, named Ryan, had been left by its owner, 10-year-old Janaih Rattray, lying in a blanket on the front passenger seat of her sister Delesia's Vauxhall Corsa on the car park at Russells Hall Hospital while they visited their mother.

Janaih's family say they believe that observing the doll's hands, which they claim were visible in the car, it should have been possible for the officers to realise it was not real.

But police insist it was "extremely life-like", with only the top of its head exposed, and the officers who smashed their way in genuinely believed it was a baby, alone and critically ill, in a locked car outside the hospital, which has a maternity unit.

"The doll does look a bit real - like a baby a few months old - but if you look at the hands, which weren't inside the blanket, and feet you can tell it isn't," said Delesia, aged 20, from Dudley, who is studying criminology at Wolverhampton University.

"When I went outside to the car I found the back window behind the driver's seat had been smashed in and there was glass all over the seats.

"I thought it was weird and then I found a note from the police to ring them.

"When I rang they said they had thought the doll was a baby in the front seat - someone had phoned them to say there was a baby in the car.

"Some nurses had come out and agreed that it was a baby."

Police have agreed to pay the £90 bill to repair the broken window, although Delesia claims they at first refused.

Chief Inspector Phil Dolby, of Dudley Police, said: "Two of my officers did the right thing when faced with what they genuinely believed was a baby, alone and critically ill in a locked car on the hospital’s car park.

“The extremely life-like doll was wrapped in a kiddies blanket with only the top of its head exposed.

"The colouration of the head appeared discoloured giving the highly experienced officers additional cause for alarm.

"Efforts were made to trace the owner of the car. But believing this was a genuine emergency, they broke a window to investigate further.

"There’s no suggestion that the doll was placed in a deliberate effort to waste police time so we will of course pay for the damage caused."

Chief Inspector Dolby added: “I apologise to the owner of the car, who knows the reasons why my officers took the action they did.

"She will hopefully agree that had it have been a baby in distress and had they not acted, they would be subject of this media scrutiny for all the wrong reasons."

Miss Rattray said: "I can understand why they broke into the car if they really thought there was a baby inside."

Carole Johnson, aged 43, mother of Delesia and Janaih, had been taken into the A&E department on the morning of September 14 and was released later that day.

Her daughters visited her there and Miss Rattray discovered the damage to her car at about 1pm.

Mrs Johnson said: "The doll was a limited edition and someone in the family gave it to Janaih.

"I think you could tell by looking at it that it wasn't real - the hands were visible and they were obviously not moving."