POLICE have arrested a woman suspected of decapitating her new-born baby and dumping the remains in a rubbish bin.

Details of the sickening crime first emerged last week when detectives launched an urgent appeal to find the mother.

Today Civil Guard officers in Madrid arrested an immigrant who was born in Ecuador.

Reports this afternoon said police were searching her house in the working-class Madrid neighbourhood of Vallecas.

The suspect, who has been taken into custody, has not been named but has been described locally as a married woman with children.

The girl’s remains were found in several plastic bags in a recycling centre in Madrid in December.

A worker made the traumatising discovery at a garbage plant in Loeches.

Doctors confirmed the little girl was born alive and was just five days old when she was mutilated and abandoned.

Local cops launched “Operation Natal” in a bid to “get justice” for the dead infant.

A specialist dog assisted cops in the investigations at the waste plant.

Tests revealed she had been born alive and decapitated with a knife before her body parts were stuffed into garbage bags.

Last week the Civil Guard made a plea for help identifying a woman they estimated to be aged around 40 who had been pregnant during the last months of last year.