SOMEONE asked the other day what was the most memorable story from my first stint at the Academy.

And I immediately answered without giving it a second's thought - Baby Callum - which surprised even me.

Because in all honesty I hadn't even considered the poor little mite in a good few years.

In truth, it was never really my story in the first place.

Chris Hall, now better known as the face of Granada TV sport, had just started at the Guardian and if I remember rightly he was the first reporter involved. It was front-page news in our midweek edition.

Police had discovered the body of a baby boy, less than a few hours old, abandoned in woodland at Callands.

Every indication was that the infant, found in a bin liner, had been suffocated and left to die.

The baby was named Callum by officers in a close approximation of the district where he was found, and the first of many appeals was issued for the child's mother to come forward.

An immediate outpouring of grief swept the town and a fund was soon established to pay for a headstone and funeral for the dumped child.

The sight of the tiny coffin being borne into Warrington Parish Church is one that remains with me.

Only later though, when advances in DNA technology came about, and I was a diligent crime hack, did I become really involved in Baby Callum's tragic tale.

Even now, with a few years' gap on occasion, fresh reminders of the case are publicised. The detective on the case may change but the basic appeal to establish the mother's identity has remained unaltered.

This week marks 16 years since that fateful day and we are still no nearer to finding out the truth.

During a quick search of the archives I was surprised to see an appeal from 1998 which gave quite a detailed description of a 17-year-old girl, seen in the vicinity of where Callum was located.

The mere fact of this probably means very little now but it did make me pause and ponder awhile.

What if there is a thirty-something woman in Warrington, who holds the key to this mystery, has lived with the knowledge all this time?

Ordinarily vengeance is usually my middle name but if she wanted to unburden herself a decade-and-a-half later, and finally give the poor lad a surname, if nothing else, I would hope any court in the land would be merciful.

Until then I'll think what Baby Callum might have been doing now if his life had taken a different turn, maybe leaving school, looking forward to college, getting his first job, and await the next appeal.