A man has been charged after a 21-year-old woman lost her baby in a violent attack on a street in southeast London.
The Metropolitan police said the woman, who was 32 weeks pregnant, was walking down Talfourd Place in Peckham at around 8pm on Monday when she was approached by two men wearing motorbike helmets.
The men proceeded to push her to the ground and repeatedly kick and stamp on her stomach. The suspects then ran off in the direction of Denmark Road.
Police said the victim received first aid at the scene and was taken to a south London hospital where she lost her baby.
The woman is said to be in a critical condition in intensive care.
"This was a truly abhorrent and vile attack on a heavily pregnant woman who has now, tragically, lost her baby," detective chief inspector Robert Pack said.
"The men who attacked her must have known the impact their actions would have when they kicked her repeatedly in the stomach," he added. "It is sickening to think someone would deliberately target a pregnant woman in this way.
"The suspects were distinctive in their crash helmets and we would appeal for anyone who saw them either before the attack or running from the scene to please come forward and contact us."
Police said the two suspects were black and in their twenties. A 20-year-old man arrested yesterday remains in custody, a Met statement added.
The London Ambulance Service has apologised after it emerged the victim was forced to wait for more than an hour for an ambulance which never turned up. In the end it was the police who took her to hospital.
“We were called at 8:16pm on 15 June to Talfourd Place, SE15. We are very sorry that we were unable to send an ambulance before we were cancelled by the police at 9:25pm and are now looking into the circumstances of what happened,” a spokesperson was quoted by the Guardian as saying.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Chief Inspector Pack said it appeared the incident may have been a targeted attack and it was possible the woman knew the men.
"It does appear to be a targeted offence, this wasn't a random attack. Certainly we're treating it akin to murder," Sky News reported him as saying.
"From what we know at the moment, the working hypothesis is that it was targeted at that unborn child. There doesn't appear to be any blows or physical force directed to her head or face.
"It seems to be all the violence was targeted towards the child."
A man has been charged with child destruction and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, the BBC reported. According to the broadcaster, "Kevin Wilson, 20, of Stansfield House, Longfield Estate, south-east London, is due in court later."