Jury takes less than an hour to clear student nurse accused of trying to kidnap a baby

Safia Ahmadei, 36, was cleared of one count of attempted kidnap at Wolverhampton Crown Court after a two-week trial.

The prosecution alleged the University of Wolverhampton nursing student had planned to snatch a baby on February 13 this year, after being seen in the hospital's neo-natal unit.

During her evidence Ahmadei, from Upper Vauxhall, Wolverhampton, broke down in tears when explaining she had lied to her husband about being pregnant with twins.

She had told the man, who was also married to another woman and could not conceive, one baby had died and another was in New Cross Hospital, where she took him to look at a baby.

Arrested at the hospital, police found baby clothes, cash and a passport in her car which she claimed was bought by her husband, who she was not legally married to but had a Muslim marriage ceremony to be his second wife.

Ahmadei, who came to the UK in 2011 from Afghanistan and had built a life and education after her first husband had left her, was suspended from her nursing course after repeatedly going to see babies in the neo-natal unit. She also befriended a couple whose baby was in the unit, she claimed to know them through her family and was only being friendly.

The mother of two told jurors she was heartbroken and scared after suffering two miscarriages but would never snatch a baby because she "could never do that to another mother".

Jurors took 48 minutes to clear her.