‘My beautiful daughter and granddaughter are now at peace’: Baby and mother found dead in gorge

Zaani Tiana Bevan Malbrouck was discovered in the same area of Avon Gorge as her 30-year-old mother Charlotte Bevan, whose body was found by police last night.

University Hospitals Bristol Trust said they have launched an investigation into the care mother and baby received.

Ms Bevan was captured on CCTV leaving Bristol Maternity Hospital coatless and carrying Zaani wrapped in just a blanket on Tuesday.

She is believed to have suffered from schizophrenia and depression and to have been sleep-deprived after giving birth.

Ms Bevan’s mother Rachel Fortune said: “My beautiful daughter and grand-daughter are now at peace.”

A spokeswoman for University Hospitals Bristol Trust said the trust will be “conducting a thorough review of the care Charlotte and her baby received to see if there was anything we could have done”.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Crisp described the case as “dreadful, awful, frustrating” during a press conference overlooking the Avon Gorge where the bodies were found.

“I regret to inform you that a short time ago on the cliff face close to Charlotte, the body of a small baby girl has been found,” he said.

“No formal identification has so far taken place but we anticipate that it is going to be Charlotte’s daughter. This is a dreadful, awful, frustrating business and our thoughts are with the family at this time.

“We will be conducting an investigation on behalf of the coroner. At the moment we are not treating either death as suspicious.”

Mr Crisp said Ms Bevan’s family had been informed. He said he could not answer questions on whether Ms Bevan should have been more carefully monitored.

Police moved their search for the pair to Avon Gorge on Tuesday night after a member of the public walking along the cliff edge spotted the distinctive multi-coloured blanket that Zaani Tiana had earlier been wrapped in.

Ms Bevan had been due to be discharged from the hospital today, with “no indications” that she planned to leave early, a hospital trust spokeswoman said.

Staff last saw Ms Bevan and her baby at 8.30pm but when they went back to check on her at 9.05pm both were missing.

Hours before she disappeared, Ms Bevan posted a self-help video on her Facebook page called Get Through Positive And Negative Thinking Rough Patches.

But earlier this month she had posted happy pictures of herself with her baby bump on the social networking site, where she also described herself as a “free spirit”.

Mr Crisp said Ms Bevan was a “good mother” and that she had been making “great progress” in hospital.

Friends had described her as part of a “happy couple” and said her disappearance was “out of character”.