Baby 'for sale' on web returned to parents

A newborn baby put up for sale on Ebay has been returned to his parents after prosecutors decided not to take any action against the couple. The infant and his parents have not been identified.

Ebay has a long and not always distinguished history of weird and wacky items being put up for sale but by far the strangest transaction ever offered on the site came on May 24th this year when the following advert appeared: 'Offering my nearly new baby for sale, as it has gotten too loud. It is a male baby, nearly 28 inches (70 cm) long and can be used either in a baby carrier or a stroller.' The opening bid amount was just 1€ (80p).

No bids had been received by the time the ad was deleted two and a half hours later. That was when the authorities in Germany - where the ad had been placed - sprung into action, removing the baby from his parents' custody while launching an investigation into potential child trafficking.

The baby's parents - a 23-year-old mother and 24-year-old father - both strongly protested their innocence, maintaining the posting was just a joke. This week chief prosecutor Johannes Kreuzpointer agreed, announcing 'the child has been returned to his parents' to the Associated Press on Thursday.

Kreuzpointer has experience of difficult cases involving children. He is also in charge of a case involving a seven-year-old 'feral' child kept hidden in a farmhouse in Augsburg, Bavaria. The mother is facing cruelty charges while police are trying to trace the father.

• Buying An Ebay Baby
• Our Parent-to-parent Talk Forums